DHS
by Harpomatic
Summary: It felt like something had just punched up through her stomach and into her chest. The blonde was honest enough with herself to immediately recognize what it was. She, Delphine Cormier, had a crush on her best friend. - AU that follows the primary characters through high school. Cophine and Lumberpunk are both present.
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was the last day of school and Delphine had a plan, she'd been building up the nerves to actually _carry out _the plan for weeks. She tried to ignore her surroundings, the sounds of fellow sophomores excited for summer, and began to reason with herself. _What's the worst that could happen? She's your best friend. She'll always be your friend, regardless of how she reacts. _The bell rang and her classmates, now juniors, left the classroom loudly. The blonde rose and followed, she looked into the hallway and saw her friends at the other end, with Cosima, now a senior, in the very middle. Delphine took a deep breath and made her way towards them, steeling herself more with each step she took. Cosima noticed her when she was about fifteen steps away, she smiled, at ten steps away, Cosima noticed her best friend's tense demeanor, she cocked her head to the side, at five steps away, she opened her mouth to speak,

"Is something wro-" Cosima was cut off by the blonde girl grabbing her face and pulling her into a kiss. Cosima stiffened in surprise, but only for a fraction of a second, before returning the kiss with equal fervor. They pulled apart after what seemed like minutes. Cosima leaned her forehead into Delphine's, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," She breathed, grinning widely. Delphine smiled back. They were pulled back into reality when Alison cleared her throat to remind them of their surroundings. The two turned towards their friends, now holding hands. Everyone, except for Felix, who looked somewhat pained, was staring, gape-jawed, silent. Sarah was the first to speak,

"Fucking finally."


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Set 3 months after prologue

Delphine parked the car and looked to Cosima in the passenger's seat. The brunette flashed her a smile,

"You excited?" She asked.

"Oui." Delphine nodded.

Cosima chuckled. Her girlfriend had an astoundingly thick French accent, so thick that often their friends had trouble understanding her, the set of braces she had certainly didn't help matters. Cosima, though, never had trouble understanding her, even when they first met.

The two grabbed their stuff from Delphine's backseat and got out of the car. When they met at the front of the vehicle, Cosima grumbled.

"I swear to god, you grew like five inches this summer." Delphine smiled,

"Six, en fait," she corrected the much shorter girl. Cosima scoffed in response. They'd ended the previous school year relatively the same height, but while Cosima only gained a couple of inches, Delphine had shot up, and there was now a four inch height difference between her and the older girl. The couple was about to walk up to the school when Delphine spotted the truck, "There are Sarah et Felix," she said, nudging her girlfriend. The truck parked next to Delphine's car. Sarah and Felix climbed out. The two girls greeted them and Cosima turned to Sarah,

"Where's that scraggly boy toy of yours? I have a purchase to make." Sarah shrugged,

"Cal'll be here in a little while, he texted me earlier and said he was running late."

The group conversed for a few minutes until a Bronco swung into the lot and parked beside Sarah's truck, out jumped Cal, Sarah's boyfriend, who greeted him with a kiss. Cal turned to face the others.

"Holy shit," Cosima muttered. Cal was no longer the awkward, gangly boy she'd known. The boy was still tall, but he'd grown into his height since the last time she'd seen him, he was broad and muscular, and the patchy bits of hair that had been on his chin had grown into a full beard. Cosima saw Delphine's eyes widen in her periphery, obviously as surprised as her.

"You guys can stop staring now, yeah? He was hot before," Sarah chastised, Delphine shook her head slightly in disagreement. Cal bit his lip and smiled shyly.

"I'm sorry, Sarah, it's just…how?" Cosima asked, now turning to Cal, "I saw you like a month ago. How did this," she gestured to Cal's new physique, "happen in that short amount of time?" Cal shrugged, still blushing. Felix spoke up,

"Come on guys, we're going to be late," he looked around, "where's Alison?"

"Oh, she is probablement already inside, she wanted to be à lˡheure," Delphine responded, trying to enunciate as much as possible.

"What was that, Frenchie?" Felix laughed. Cosima shoved him,

"Shut up, you know what she said," she wrapped an arm around the blonde, "anyway, the accent's hot." Felix chewed his lip and looked away, an unreadable expression taking over his features.

Cosima fell back, matching the pace of Cal and Sarah, "Now that you two lovebirds have had time to catch up after what I'm sure was a very _long _eighteen hours, Cal, I have a purchase to make." Cal nodded and reached into his messenger bag, he pulled out a baggie and tossed it to the brunette,

"That'll be forty bucks."

"_Forty?_ Jesus Christ, this shit had better be good."

"You know it is," Cal said, motioning for the girl to pay him, "and I'm already giving you a discount." Cosima scoffed and handed him two twenty dollar bills.

The three seniors walked in silence, Delphine and Felix walked ahead, talking.

"Has Felix been acting weird to you guys lately?" Cosima asked.

"Kinda. I think he's just nervous about school," Sarah answered, "actually, I think he might have a crush on Delphine," She added, smiling. Cosima shook her head, knowing that wasn't true, but she let it go as they entered the building. The gang filed into their respective lines to collect their schedules.

After everyone had met back up, they began to compare schedules until Sarah spotted Alison,

"Oi! Ali! Get your skinny ass over here!" She cried, waving to their friend, who laughed and made her way towards the group. She pulled each member into a hug, but stopped short when she looked at Cal,

"Jesus Murphy," the girl squeaked, looking him up and down.

"Don't worry, Alison, we've already discussed it," Cosima told her. Alison just nodded and pulled the boy into a quick hug. Sarah rolled her eyes. The group returned to comparing schedules, Alison and Cosima had first period together.

"I still can't believe you chose to double up in science this year," Cosima said, looking at Delphine and grinning. The blonde just shrugged,

"Well, I have physics with you and Cal now, so it will be fun." Cosima nodded in agreement. Delphine looked back at her schedule and frowned,

"Wait…I was put in General Music…I did not sign up for that, I signed up for Advanced Anatomy." Cosima sighed,

"Yeah, that class is mainly for seniors, so they get first pick," she explained apologetically. Delphine looked heartbroken when Felix spoke up,

"Don't worry, I'm in there too, it's a total blow off class, it's an easy A and it's only for a semester." The younger boy reassured her. Delphine just nodded, she fully intended to transfer out of the class when she had the chance. After a few more minutes of talking about classes, various teachers and sports tryouts, the bell rang and the group split up and headed to their respective classes.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Third period rolled around and Delphine was filled with dread. Regardless of what Felix had said, she didn't want to be in the General Music class, making an easy A, she wanted to be in Advanced Anatomy, learning about things that actually interested her. She took a deep breath and entered the classroom. It was already noisy, students were throwing paper and joking loudly to one another, she sighed. Hopefully she'd be able to speak to a counselor after school about transferring to another class. Her eyes scanned the room for a moment before Felix, waving his arms, caught her attention. She made her way to the back, maneuvering around various students, and sat down in the seat Felix had saved her. The younger boy seemed excited to be in class, "Don't worry, Frenchie, I know you don't like it right now, but the teacher doesn't care what you do in here as long as you finish the worksheet, and even then she doesn't really grade them, so you'll have an A the entire time, and at the end you'll have a Fine Arts credit," he whispered conspiratorially. Delphine nodded, still uneasy. The bell rang and the teacher introduced herself, students talked over her the entire time she was speaking, but she didn't seem to care, she finished her spiel and handed out the worksheet they would be doing that day.

Soon, Delphine and Felix were laughing about the stupid answers they were putting down and talking about various things they'd done over the summer. The two were having a lively debate about the pros and cons of pep rallies when they were interrupted by another student in the class who had been watching their exchange,

"Are you guys dating?" He asked obnoxiously. Felix and Delphine both laughed and shook their heads, "Why not? Are you gay or something?" The intrusive student asked Felix. Felix blanched and was about to stutter a reply, but Delphine spoke before he could begin,

"Non, I am. I have a girlfriend." She replied, smiling politely at the intrusive boy, who nodded and turned back in his seat. Delphine rolled her eyes at the boy and looked back to Felix,

"Imbécile. I didn't want to get into the topic of bisexuality with him. I doubt he'd understand," she finished, smirking. Felix just smiled uncomfortably. The bell rang before Delphine could question his shift in mood, and Felix gathered his things quickly and practically ran out of the classroom. Delphine just shrugged and grabbed her stuff. She made her way to her next class, thinking it wouldn't be all that bad to spend a semester in there, laughing with her friend.


	4. Chapter 3

Cal made his way to the outbuilding for his seventh period class, one he was very excited for, Wood Shop. He'd learned freshman year that he had a natural talent for the craft, and had taken it every year since then, except this year, he got to be the teacher's assistant. He'd get to teach other class members how to use the tools and help them make various projects. The boy smiled, hoping that his position would allow him to make larger things like desks. Cal entered the small building and looked around at the students already there. He started when he saw Sarah standing at the table nearest the front, a sly grin on her face.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?" Cal asked, beaming.

"Well, I heard that this really cute boy was gonna be the teacher's aide this year," She said, looking around, "have you seen him?" She finished, smiling at the tall boy, who shrugged.

"No, I don't think I have, sorry." Cal replied apologetically. The two laughed and shared a quick kiss before Cal made his way to where he was supposed to sit, suddenly more excited for this year than he already was.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! I'm really really sorry about how long it took me to update. I moved recently and have been getting settled. I will publish more frequently in the coming days! Enjoy!**

The six friends were gathered in the gymnasium, all dressed in their gym clothes, talking about the various sports they were going out for.

"Are you _sure_ you want to be in cross country?" Cal asked for what seemed like the tenth time, "I've heard that people get jumped during the meets." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure. And anyway, if anyone tries to jump me, I'll punch 'em in the throat." She said reassuringly. Everyone was surprised when Sarah said she'd be running cross country, but she insisted that it helped her focus more in class, and she loved to run anyway, why not put it to use? The group nodded in agreement.

"I think the real question is how the _hell_ Cosima is still on the volleyball team." Felix chuckled, looking at the girl, "She's like four feet tall." The girl rolled her eyes.

"I think you know why, Felix. Cosima "Powerful Thighs" Niehaus can jump higher than anyone else on the team." She was right, even the coaches had scoffed when she'd shown up for tryouts the previous year, but they were quickly surprised by the girl's astounding ability to jump, making her an excellent blocker. That, partnered with natural competitiveness and fierce tenacity made her perfect for the team.

A whistle signaled the beginning of class and everyone followed their respective coaches. Alison with soccer, and Delphine, with lacrosse, walked outside to the field.

"So, you think you'll make first string this year?" Alison asked a nervous Delphine.

"I hope. My growth spurt definitely helps my chances." Delphine replied, more to reassure herself than to answer Alison, who smiled encouragingly.

"I'm sure you'll make it, I have complete confidence in you." Delphine grinned, Alison had no problems getting onto the soccer team in freshman year. She'd been playing since third grade, she was cunning, agile and often ruthless on the field. Her ability to dodge and weave around her opponents earned her the position of tea, captain. An assurance from the talented older girl made Delphine feel much better. Eventually the girls separated to their respective teams so they could begin. The coach informed the girl's lacrosse team that they'd begin with laps. Delphine and her classmates, who seemed much shorter now than they did at the end of the previous school year, lined up and began running when the coach blew the whistle. After the first few laps, the other girls began to lag, but not Delphine, who still felt great.

Once laps were over, the players lined up to practice their shots. Delphine remembered back to the beginning of the summer. Cosima had reluctantly agreed to help her train for the next season, but had shown up to her house the next day, declaring that she had spent three hours the previous night researching lacrosse and its rules. From then on, they spent three hours a day, three days a week preparing Delphine. They worked on each position with equal fervor so Delphine would have a better chance at making the first string, but towards the end of the summer it became increasingly apparent what Delphine was best at, shooting. With her ability to use both arms with equal power, she could easily get the first home position. She was practically unstoppable, but with Cosima as a goalie, almost any shot was unstoppable, Delphine chuckled. She sobered when she realized it was almost her turn. The girl fiddled with her stick and tried to calm her nerves. _You practiced all summer. You can do this. _

The coach called her name, breaking her out of her stupor. She made her way to the ball that was waiting for her on the ground. She picked it up with her stick and let herself get comfortable with it. The coach, who was now standing in the goal, blew the whistle, signaling her time to begin. Delphine took a deep breath and lifted her stick. She jogged a few steps and planted her right foot into the ground. She twisted her body, letting her momentum travel from her legs, up through her torso, and finally into her shoulders. She moved her stick the front of her body, whipping the ball out of the net and towards the goal. The ball whizzed through the air and into the upper right corner of the goal so quickly the coach didn't have time to react.

Time sped back up and Delphine looked around at her classmates who all looked surprised, some flashed her stunned thumbs up signs. Her coach nodded in approval and gave her a "nice one" before blowing the whistle for the next player. Delphine returned to the line. She stood for a few seconds, reflecting on her shot before she felt someone touch her shoulder. She turned around to see Cosima and Felix grinning widely.

"That was freaking amazing!" The shorter girl exclaimed.

"Good job, Frenchie!" Felix said, high fiving the Delphine, who returned it halfheartedly.

"You saw that?" She asked sheepishly.

"Of course I did! I trained you for like three months, I wanted to see the fruits of my labor." She punched the younger girl in the arm playfully.

"I just wanted to get out of gym." Felix said.

"You did great, I'm serious." Cosima said, pulling Delphine into a hug. "Okay, we have to get back. We sorta snuck away to watch this." Delphine's eyes widened.

"Vous les gars ont besoin de quitter! You are going to get in trouble!" She said, shooing them away, but not before Cosima leaned up for a kiss.

"Bye, I'll see you later!" Cosima said, grinning.

"Au revoir!" Delphine said, "Goodbye Felix!" She added, waving to the younger boy. Felix waved in return and the two made their way back to the gym.

The rest of the class went by quickly, with Delphine practicing her shots s few more times, each shot varying in form but constant in result. She was unstoppable. At the end of class, as she was walking back towards the locker room, the coach clapped her on the shoulder, "Congrats, Cormier."

"On what?" The blonde asked.

"You made first string. You'll be playing first home." The coach said, before walking away. Delphine was too stunned to say anything. She regained her senses as she entered the locker room, immediately spotting Cosima by her locker, still changing, and now it was her turn to be surprised as Delphine pulled her into a hug from behind, she lifted the older girl off of the ground and squeezed her before setting her back down and turning her around. Cosima looked nothing short of shocked.

"What? What's wrong? Are you okay?" She fired off worried questions. Delphine just laughed.

"Yes! I'm alright! I made first string!" Delphine said excitedly. Cosima's features broke into one of the widest grins Delphine had ever seen. Cosima used her powerful thighs to jump onto Delphine, wrapping her legs around her waist, and pulled her into an excited kiss, Delphine kissed back until Sarah swatted her on the soulder, reminding her that they were in public. The two pulled apart, but Cosima did not get down. Alison entered the locker room to see the two girls in their position. She cocked her head questioningly. Cosima turned her head,

"Delphine made first string!" She said, happily. Alison clapped excitedly.

"See? I knew you could do it, Delphine!" Alison said, making the blonde smile even wider. Alison maneuvered her way around Cosima, still latched onto her girlfriend, and hugged Delphine.

After a few more seconds, Cosima hopped down to let Delphine change and to let herself finish dressing. The four girls left the locker room and met Cal and Felix, exiting the boys' locker room, Cosima relayed the good news to them. Cal smiled and gave her a congratulatory clap on the shoulder. Felix gave her another high five, this time Delphine returned it wholeheartedly. Cosima grabbed Delphine's hand and the six made their way to their classes.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi again! If you guys haven't noticed, this fic doesn't really have a plot, per se. The events do occur chronologically, but often problems from one chapter will not carry over to the next chapter, so basically this is just a series of vignettes. I'm having a great deal of fun writing this, and I appreciate all the follows/reviews. This fic is sort of like a writing exercise for me, as time goes on I'll go in and improve previous chapters by expanding upon certain ideas/instances. I have big plans in store for this fic, and if I ****_do _****decide to end it, i will let you guys know. Thanks again, enjoy!**

Sarah was having trouble making her way through Cosima's living room, something that was never a problem for her, except now it was full of people, most of which she didn't know or just vaguely recognized from school.

It was Halloween, and Cosima's parents were out of town, giving Cosima the bright idea to throw a party. Sarah, dressed as Wonder Woman, was a little aggravated at her having to shove her way to the kitchen, but less aggravated than she would be had she not already had two beers and a light contact high from the people smoking around her. The party was loud, there were at least forty people in attendance, she was surprised by how many people had shown up, but Cosima, being the social butterfly she was, didn't really mind. _"It's a party, the more the merrier, it's a good way to make friends." _She had said. Sarah bet that she was regretting those words now that there were dozens of drunk teenagers making a mess of her house. She finally reached the kitchen, where she ran into Cosima and Cal talking to some kid from their physics class.

"Oi! Cos! How the hell are you gonna get these people outta your house?" She slurred.

"It's fine, Sarah, my parents won't be back until Monday, I have plenty of time to clean up." Cosima, dressed, rather appropriately, as Velma, reassured her, "Have you seen Delphine?"

"Yeah, we're hangin' out in the living room, I just came back for more drinks." Sarah answered, pulling two bottles from the ice chest. Cosima nodded.

"Sarah, how much have you had to drink?" Cal asked. Her boyfriend was dressed as Calvin, some character from a comic strip that Sarah had never heard of. He wore a striped T-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. His hair was mussed up and he had shaved his beard, he was even carrying around a little stuffed tiger. Sarah couldn't take him seriously when he looked like such a little kid.

"This would be my third, why?" Sarah replied, chuckling at her boyfriend.

"No reason, I just wanna make sure you don't cause any trouble." Cal said, grinning. Sarah scoffed.

"You know I don't cause trouble." She said, making Cal roll his eyes.

"If you say so." He replied. Sarah smiled and left the kitchen.

As she made her way back into the living room towards where she and Delphine were talking, she saw the younger girl, dressed, even more appropriately, as Daphne, standing in the corner, being talked up by none other than Paul Dierden. She didn't know Paul well, she knew that he was in the same grade as her, in JROTC, on the football team, and based on his costume, just a pair of sunglasses and a T-shirt that said "FBI: Female Body Inspector", that he was an asshole. He was inappropriately close to Delphine, occasionally he'd lean into the girl's neck, whispering things that made her look even more uncomfortable. Sarah took a deep breath and remembered Cal's words. _Don't cause any trouble, don't cause any trouble_. She walked up to the two and stood beside Delphine, who visibly relaxed at Sarah's return.

"Hi, Paul, how's it goin'?" Sarah asked, trying not to be too standoffish.

"Nothin's up, just talkin' to Delphine over here." The boy replied, his speech was slurred, but not slurred enough for him to not realize how he was behaving.

"That's great, but I need Delphine's help with something in the kitchen." She lied, beckoning for the blonde girl to follow her. Delphine sighed in relief and tried to move, only to be blocked by Paul putting his knee against the wall, trapping her in the corner. This made Sarah's blood boil, she felt her cheeks heat at the boy's actions.

"Delphine's fine just where she is." He said, lazily running his finger through her bangs. Delphine stiffened.

"Please let me go." She muttered, trying to break free from the senior's body. He wasn't budging. Sarah grew indignant.

"Oi! Paul! Let her go!" Sarah said.

"No." The muscular boy said, nuzzling into Delphine's neck. The blonde shoved him away, appalled.

Paul barely had time to react before Sarah's fist flew into his nose, causing him to stagger backwards. He looked at Sarah for a moment, stunned. She was wild eyed, burning with rage, waiting for Paul's reaction. The boy flew at her, something she was expecting, she caught him by the shoulders and pushed him back the other way, landing on top of him. She punched him two more times before Paul flipped her over and began hitting her. Sarah endured the punches and reached blindly for his face, grabbing a hold of his nose and jerking it sharply to the right. The boy shouted in a mix of pain and rage, Sarah used his distractedness to get out from under him, kicking and flailing until she was on his back, holding him in a chokehold with one arm, punching him in the face with the other. Delphine stood, staring at the two, too buzzed to really know what to do. By now a crowd had gathered around the three, cheering on the brawling teens.

Cal and Cosima were joking about something dumb their physics teacher had said the other day when Felix and Alison bounded in.

"You have _got_ to come see this." A less than sober Felix, dressed as a lumberjack, giggled. Something about Alison's demeanor told the two that the situation wasn't as humorous as Felix found it, of course, that could have just been her 1950s housewife costume making her look more serious than she actually was. Regardless, the four left the kitchen and pushed through the crowd to see a bewildered Delphine watching Sarah, who was on Paul's back, hitting him repeatedly, her hair flying, her limbs moving rapidly.

"She-told-you-to-leave-her-alone!" She yelled, punctuating each word with a hit to Paul's face, looking like the no-nonsense Amazonian she was dressed as.

"Jesus H. Christ." Cal said, pushing to the front, leading the other three. Felix stood by Delphine, cheering Sarah on, while Cal, Cosima, and Alison all gathered around Sarah, trying to avoid her hits, and grabbed ahold of her still flailing body.

"Hit him! Hit him, Sarah! Tear him apart!" He shouted, excited by the whole situation.

"You're not helping, Felix!" Cosima grunted, helping to pull a thrashing Sarah off of the boy, who was also throwing elbows.

The three teens finally managed to get Sarah away from Paul, she seemed to calm down a little, so Cal and the others let go of her. The tall boy helped Paul up and the two others went to stand beside Felix and Delphine, Cosima slipping a hand in hers. Cal stood between the two of them, both still breathing heavily, bowed up like two wild animals. He looked at them, Paul's lip was split, and he had a cut above his left eyebrow, and a long red mark along the left side of his jaw that would surely turn into a bruise later on. Sarah had a bloody nose and a series of red marks and scratches peppering her cheekbones.

He looked to Alison and Felix, "Go get them towels to clean themselves up." He motioned towards the kitchen. The two nodded and silently left. Cal turned back to Sarah and Paul.

"So, _what_ happened?" He asked. The two teens spoke at once. "No, nonono no." He shook his head, "You." He looked to Paul, "Tell me what happened."

"I was talking to Blondie here," Paul pointed to Delphine, "and _she_ just came up and sucker punched me." He motioned to Sarah. The girl's nostrils flared and Cal thought she was about to come at the boy again.

"You know that's not true, you wanker!" She looked to Cal. "Paul was creeping on Delphine and wouldn't let go of her even after she asked him to stop." She finished, eyes blazing. Cal turned to Delphine, who was still wide eyed.

"Is this true?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Oui. He was being very invasive, Sarah was just trying to help." She said, her accent thicker than usual in her inebriated state. Alison, Cosima, Cal and Felix all turned their attention back to Paul, who looked more embarrassed than anything.

"Well…that's inappropriate and immature." Alison said, glaring at the boy.

"Yeah, bro. Not cool." Cosima said, her arm now wrapping around Delphine's waist. Paul just scoffed.

"I think it's time for you to leave-"He turned to the crowd. "I think it's time for all of you to leave." Cal said, looking to the crowd, who began to file out of the house. "Who's driving him home?" A boy dressed as a frog stepped forward and grabbed Paul to lead him out. Cal had almost turned around to face his friends when Paul spoke up.

"Bye, blondie," Paul waved condescendingly to Delphine, and then to Sarah, "bye _bitch_." Sarah was ready to pounce, but didn't have time to before Cal whipped around and let his right fist connect with Paul's nose with a deafening crack.

Paul staggered for a moment before he collapsed with a loud thud, blood trickling out of his definitely broken nose. Cal turned around to his friends, holding his reddened hand.

"That guy is an _asshole_."

The others were too stunned by the usually pacifistic Cal resorting to violence to do anything other than nod in agreement. Cal exhaled and turned back to Paul's friend, who was trying to drag him out of the house. "It's okay, I've got it." He said, hoisting Paul over his shoulder and carrying him to his friend's car. Even going as far as putting the unconscious boy's seatbelt on and giving his friend money for gas.

When he returned inside, the house had cleared out except for Sarah, Cosima, Felix, Delphine and Alison, who were all helping clean up.

"I'm sorry about that, it was a little bit much." He apologized.

"No, mate, that was bloody _awesome_." Felix said. Cal just shook his head and started picking up trash.

"I'm sorry for wigging out in the first place." Sarah said, looking to everyone. Delphine furrowed her brow.

"Non, Sarah, do not apologize. He was being a creep, and I was too drunk to react. Thank you for getting him to back off." She said sincerely, pulling the older girl into a hug. The two went back to cleaning up.

Later, after the house was completely clean, and the six of them were in Cosima's living room, smoking and watching TV, Cal leaned into Sarah and whispered,

"What was that about never causing any trouble?" The girl just grinned and readjusted the icepack on her cheek.


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry that it's been so long since my last update. I was going to update last weekend but I got appendicitis and have been recovering/catching up on schoolwork for the past week. I'm loving all the reviews/follows, thank you! Once again, I have big plans for this fic, and if i decide to discontinue it i will tell you. I love writing it, i feel like it's helping me get better at digging deeper into actions and fleshing out ideas more. enjoy the chapter!**

Delphine never smiled with her mouth open, not for pictures, not for jokes. Regardless of what amused her, she would react with a closed mouth smile. It was rarely because the smiles weren't genuine, it was because she hated her teeth. She hated her overbite, she hated the way the bottom ones crowded together at odd angles, she hated how big the top two were. Everything about her teeth, Delphine loathed.

In the summer before 8th grade, when her family moved to America, she finally got braces, after years of torment from her peers and begging her parents. She wasn't necessarily fond of how they looked, or how they made her accent impossibly thick, but she recognized that they were better looking than her teeth, and that in time she'd get them off and her teeth would look great.

By the time she'd met Cosima in 9th grade, her closed mouth laughing habit had already stuck, but occasionally the older girl could make her laugh hard enough that Cosima would catch a glimpse of her teeth.

Cosima though her girlfriend's teeth were endearing. She liked how thick they made her accent. She thought her shy, closed mouth smiles were cute. She' never seen a Delphine without braces. Even in childhood photos-the ones Delphine hadn't hidden-Delphine's mouth was closed. As far as Cosima was concerned, Delphine's braces were just a permanent part of her. Cosima understood, though, that Delphine was insecure about them, so aside from the occasional reassurance, she never mentioned them.

Delphine had been acting secretive all week. When she'd shown up to Cosima's house the Saturday before, she was cheerier than usual, and when Cosima had asked what was up, she had just smiled and shaken her head. The blonde girl remained in her whimsical state through the weekend and into the following week. Cosima hadn't let up on her questioning, but every time she pushed Delphine, she was met with an even wider grin and another shake of the head.

That Tuesday, Delphine, Sarah, and Cosima were in study hall, talking about the party the previous Friday.

"Have you seen Paul? His nose is _totally_ fucked up." Cosima whispered, "It's all purple and shit, and it's swollen. He looks freakish." Sarah, sporting a bruise on her cheek, just laughed.

"Yeah, I saw him coming in this morning. He wouldn't stop staring at Cal. It was bloody hilarious." The two looked to Delphine for her thoughts, but found her staring into space with a pleasant smile on her face. Sarah looked to Cosima for an answer.

"I don't know, man! She's been like this Saturday! She won't tell me anything other than, "Nothing's wrong, don't worry."" Cosima explained exasperatedly. Sarah just scoffed, and the two went back to talking about the party.

After a few minutes, an office aide came into the library and handed the librarian a note. The librarian looked around the room and called out,

"Delphine Cormier?" Successfully pulling Delphine out of her haze. The girl smiled widely, wide enough for her braces to show. She stood, gathered her things, and bent down to give Cosima a kiss.

"Whoa, whoa, where are you going?" Cosima asked. Delphine just smiled another cryptic smile.

"You'll see."

"What the bloody hell does that mean?" Sarah asked. The blonde looked at Sarah like she'd just realized she was there.

"Oh, allô Sarah, I will see you later." And with that, Delphine retrieved the pass from the librarian and left the library.

Over the course of the next few hours, Cosima had texted Delphine three times and didn't receive a reply for any of them. The brunette wanted to be worried, but remembered how happy Delphine had seemed and decided that whatever her girlfriend was doing was a good thing.

At lunchtime, Felix, Sarah, Cal and Alison approached Cosima.

"So do you have any idea where she went?" Alison asked.

"No, dude. All I know is that her car isn't in the lot and that she was _really _happy before she left." Cosima explained. The others nodded.

"Well what are you doing for lunch?" Cal asked.

"I normally have plans with Delphine for lunch, but she's not here, so I don't know." The girl shrugged.

"Oh _please_," Felix said, rolling his eyes, "we all know that you guys' "plans" are just the two of you making out in Delphine's car for the first forty minutes and then going to get food at that crappy Chinese place down the street."

"Hey, it is _not_ crappy. They make _really_ good Lo Mein. And besides, it's fun." Cosima said, not even trying to deny it.

"Do you want to come with us today, then? We're probably gonna get something from that deli a few blocks away." Alison asked.

"Sure! Thanks a bunch," the girl answered, "are we all going in Cal's car?" The others nodded and all made their way to the parking lot. They loaded into the Bronco, with Sarah in the passenger's seat and Alison and Cosima on either side of Felix.

Cosima enjoyed lunch, she really did. It's not like she enjoyed Delphine's company more than she enjoyed theirs, she was just curious. She wanted to know what Delphine had been so happy about, and why she had refused to let her in on it. So between conversations she found herself checking Delphine's various social networking accounts, she found nothing until she came to her Twitter account,

_ Delphine1221_

_ "Today's gonna be great #secretssecrets" _

Cosima figured it was worth a try to reply to her,

_ Cosima_Treehaus_

_ " Delphine1221 What are you hiding?"_

Afterwards, Cosima put her phone away and didn't look at it for the rest of lunch.

It was now the end of 5th period and Delphine had been out of school for three hours. Cosima had sent four text messages and one tweet, but had received no response. She packed up and headed to her 6th period class, moving especially slowly. The late bell had just rung and Cosima wasn't near her class yet. She was bored, she didn't look forward to the rest of her day without Delphine, she wouldn't get to see her in PE and she wouldn't get to practice French with her after school, and then she didn't even know what she was going to do for a ride home, she could probably get a ride from Alison. Could she ride her bike to Delphine's house that evening to find out where she went?

Cosima was knocked out of her thoughts when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned around, only to see Delphine smiling her closed mouth smile at her.

"Oh my god! Where the hell have you been? I was getting worried." Cosima scolded, pulling the blonde into a hug.

"I had some errands to run." Delphine said slyly, pulling away, "What did you do while I was gone?"

"Well, I wondered where you were, then I went to lunch with the others, which was a lot of fun, but I missed what we normally do," Cosima grinned and nudged Delphine, "and then I sat through English, and then I was walking to Calc, and then you showed up. More importantly, though, what did _you_ do?" Delphine looked away and smiled,

"Like I said, errands." Cosima grinned, accepting that Delphine wasn't going to tell her just yet.

"Well, they must have been some _very_ important errands if they made you leave school for three hours without telling me why, leaving me to waste away in class, with no you in gym shorts to look forward to…" Cosima said. Delphine laughed, flashing a bit of her teeth. It caught Cosima's eye.

"Something's different." The shorter girl declared. Delphine cocked an eyebrow.

"I have no idea what you mean, cher." Delphine smiled again.

"Smile again, please. Something's different." Cosima said, now in investigation mode. Delphine shook her head, smiling with her mouth closed. "That's not what I meant!" Cosima laughed, "Come on! Smile again!" She began jabbing the blonde playfully in the ribs and stomach. Delphine finally laughed, opening her mouth enough to show Cosima her teeth.

Her braces were gone.

"Whoa… what the fuck…your braces are gone." The older girl stared, too stunned to say anything else. Delphine grinned even wider.

"Yeah! I'm sorry I didn't tell you, at first I was too excited and then I wanted to surprise you." Delphine explained, looking to Cosima, whose expression was still blank, her head cocked slightly. The blonde's grin wavered, "You're not made, are you?" She was nervous now. "I really am sorry, I just thought the best way to tell you was to show yo-" She was cut off by Cosima's lips crashing into hers. Delphine was surprised at first, but she warmed to it quickly. Cosima pulled away, but not by much,

"Why would I be mad? Your teeth are amazing, and you're obviously so much happier now, which is really hot." Cosima put her mouth to Delphine's neck, her hands slid just below her shirt, running them along the blonde's hips. She pulled back again.

"Why don't we…" she kissed Delphine's neck again, causing her to sigh, "leave early, and go to my house?" She proposed. Delphine nodded vigorously, and the two of them quickly ran downstairs and left the building hand in hand.


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I am so so soooo sorry about how long it's been since my last update. School has been unrelenting. I've been working on this bit by bit for about a month. It's my longest chapter, and I'm very proud of it. I did some experimenting with characterization and am pleased with how it turned out. I hope you guys like it. I'll be updating again soon. Feel free to give me any thoughts/feedback on this chapter, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Enjoy!**

It was a very important day for Dyad High School. It was the day that their volleyball team played their rival, Huxley High School. The volleyball games were almost as viscous as the football games, and after Dyad High School winning for the past three years, Huxley was bloodthirsty.

The whole school was reasonably excited, and Cosima, being one of the star players, experienced the brunt of that excitement. All day long people, some she didn't even know, were clapping her on the back and wishing her luck.

She thought her friends would give her a break, but she was wrong. In English Alison kept flashing her thumbs ups, and in study hall Sarah wouldn't stop telling her "not to be afraid to rough up a couple players." Every time she looked at Cal in physics he would give her tips on how to better serve the ball, even going as far as asking her to demonstrate how she did it, and then correcting her form. All Cosima could do was roll her eyes.

Delphine, though, was another story. She wasn't necessarily excited for the game, she thought volleyball was a little boring, but she was proud of Cosima. She was proud of her for being so good at the sport that often only tall people were good at. She was proud of her for getting so much recognition, So Delphine would encourage Cosima at every opportunity. She would give her tips like Cal, and thumbs ups like Alison, but something she did that was uniquely her was in class, when they were working together, she looked to Cosima, and said,

"Cosima." the other girl looked to her.

"Yes?" Cosima answered, already expecting where this was going. Delphine looked her intently in the eyes, staring with a quiet intensity that almost intimidated the older girl. After a few more seconds of staring, Delphine grinned and exclaimed, rather loudly,

"_Are you ready to rule the court?!_" And really, all Cosima could do was laugh, because Delphine _should _be intimidating. She was 5, 8'' and her combat boots gave her about another inch. She wore ripped skinny jeans and t-shirts with the sleeves cut off, exposing her ribs. She often looked like she hadn't slept for three days. Her general appearance, plus her thousand yard stare, should make her terrifying, but she wasn't. She was a huge goofball who reverted to French whenever she felt any strong emotion, she tripped over her long legs, she was terrified by scary movies. Cosima found it all so impossibly endearing that she couldn't begin to feel irritation when she was being like this. So Cosima gave a huge smile and replies with equal enthusiasm,

"Hell yeah! Obvs!" The two girls high fived and went back to their work, chuckling.

Later, at the end of the day, Felix approached Cosima, smiling. The girl opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to assault you with encouragements, I just wanted to chat." Cosima sighed in relief,

"Thank god. I'm getting tired of all this attention. I mean, like, I appreciate it, I really do, but holy watershed it gets tiring. All the pressure is messing up my mojo." Cosima explained. Felix nodded.

"No, I totally get it. It must be stressful, but, keep in mind how stressful it'll be if you guys lose. Everyone'll be super mad at you." The boy smiled devilishly. Cosima gasped in disbelief.

"You asshole! Stop reminding me!" She swatted him on the arm. Felix just laughed,

"Don't worry, I'm certain you'll do great, you're like a bloody jungle cat out there. I believe in you." Cosima was mildly surprised by his sincerity.

"Thanks Felix, that means a lot." She said. He just nodded and clapped her on the back,

"Sure thing. Good luck out there, we'll all be watching." Cosima nodded and the two parted ways, Felix to the student lot, Cosima to the locker room, where her teammates would be getting ready to get on the bus. Cosima was intercepted by Delphine at the entrance. Cosima smiled,

"Hey! It's good to see you. Are you here to demand that I rule the court?" The blonde laughed and shook her head.

"Non. I'm just here to wish you luck, and to remind you to be nice." Cosima cocked her head and smiled even wider,

"What do you mean? I'm super nice to everyone all the time!" Cosima answered, smiling even wider.

"You know what I mean. You are extremely competitive and when you get in that state you can be entirely too aggressive, which can be kind of hot at times, but my god, Cosima, I've heard you yell things at your opponents that I wouldn't yell at my worst enemy," Delphine explained. Cosima just nodded.

"And tonight, you're on their court, and I have a feeling that they will try to eject you if they even _think _you're being unsportsmanlike."

"No, I get you," Cosima agreed, "I promise to keep my smack talk to a minimum." Delphine nodded in approval and the two hugged.

"Bonne chance!" Delphine said, kissing Cosima. The two broke away and Cosima entered the locker room.

Tensions were high as Delphine and the others entered the Huxley High School gym. They were twenty minutes early, but there were already large crowds on both sides of the gym. Several members of both sides were decked out in their respective school colors, black and white on Huxley's side, and yellow and black on Dyad's side. Delphine and the others were no exception. Cal was wearing a yellow cape over a black shirt, Sarah had put yellow laces in her boots, both Felix and Alison had painted Cosima's number onto their faces, and Delphine wore a spirit shirt with the sleeves cropped off and had painted Cosima's number on both sides. Together, the six of them looked both spirited and intimidating.

They talked about various things until the game started, they were in the middle of a lively discussion about some video they'd seen on the internet when both teams entered the court and the entire group began cheering with everyone else.

The Huxley players looked cold and determined, finally ready to win after three consecutive years of losing.

The Dyad players also looked determined, but they had an air of smugness about them that could only be expected. With Cosima at the front of the line, the players waved to the crowds, receiving cheers from one side and boos from the other. Cosima scanned the crowd and found her friends. The six of them waved and cheered at their friend, who waved back with a cocky smile. After a few more seconds of cheering and comments from the announcers, the game began.

It was viscous. The Huxley players were aggressive and shouted unsportsmanlike things at their opponents, but where the Huxley players were hostile, the Dyad players were merciless. They didn't allow room for error, they served with ferocity and didn't celebrate when they scored. By the second round, Dyad was winning at fifteen to ten, and the conduct had only gotten worse. The girls were shouting expletives at them, mocking their form and their appearances, one Dyad player, Angie, shouted back,

"Come talk to us when you score!" The whistle blew and the ref penalized her for unsportsmanlike behavior, the Dyad crowd booed as Angie stalked off the court. Cosima grit her teeth, it was frustrating being shouted at by the Huxley players, she had choice words for the outside hitter who had called her and her teammates dogs, but she bit her tongue and endured, remembering that they were ahead.

At the beginning of the third and final round, it was Huxley's turn to serve. The setter volleyed the ball to the right side hitter, who sent it over the net, Cosima's teammate, Madison, sent it back over the net, to the opposing middle blocker, a girl about Cosima's height with blonde hair cut into a sharp bob. She jumped into the air to spike at the same time Cosima jumped to block and saw an opportunity. The girl spiked, but also reached her hand over the net just enough for the heel of her hand to hit the bridge of Cosima's nose in a sickening crunch. She landed on her feet, Cosima on her knees.

Delphine's stomach lurched, she saw the ball on the ground, she saw the blocker on the other side of the net, smiling smugly, but most importantly, she saw Cosima doubled over, one hand on her face, the other on the court, keeping her balanced. The referee blew the whistle when he saw that the girl would not be getting up. Cosima's teammates rushed to her side and Madison helped her up. Cosima staggered a bit and turned to face the crowd, a steady stream of blood was pouring out of the girl's nose, and she looked to her friends in the crowd, staggered a bit more, and fell back onto her knees. Delphine and the others stood to see what was going on. The Dyad coach was talking heatedly with the referee, Cosima was sitting on the court trying to stop her nosebleed, surrounded by her teammates. Cosima furrowed her brow and looked to the player who had hit her. She was standing, shoulders back, a small smirk on her face. Cosima felt her face get hot. She had been trying, and succeeding, all night to not antagonize her opponents, and now here _she_ was, breaking her god damned nose for fun. She looked the girl in the eye,

"Hey, _FUCK _you. And _FUCK_ your shit team too." As expected, the ref blew his whistle,

"Unsportsmanlike conduct. Exit the court." Cosima's team and the crowd all began shouting to the referee, telling him that the Huxley player had assaulted the Dyad player, that _she_ should be ejected. The ref blew his whistle some more and the whole court was lost in a sea of shouting.

From the bleachers, the six were getting anxious. They wanted to know if Cosima was okay, and if the Huxley player would get in trouble. Apparently not, because even through all the commotion, the offending player looked as smug as ever, grinning slightly and trying her best to hide her laughter. Delphine had had enough. No one was addressing Cosima's injury, her nose was still bleeding rapidly, and she had nothing to absorb the blood steadily trickling down her face. It has run down her chin and onto her neck, almost reaching her jersey. Delphine rose quickly, grabbing Cal's cape, taking the boy with her. She stepped out of the bleachers and onto the court. The others looked at her, bewildered. She reached Cosima, Cal in tow. She knelt to the bleeding girl, taking her face gently in her hands, whispering to her,

"Are you okay?" Cosima nodded and grinned, looking somewhat woozy. Delphine pulled the cape to Cosima's face, causing Cal to kneel, and held it there, staunching the trickle of blood. She rose and looked around the court. Everyone was still arguing, she looked to Cosima's assailant, who was watching them with a bemused smirk, her head cocked slightly, patronizingly. Delphine stormed to the net and ducked under it, walking to the shorter girl with an intensity that would startle even her closest friends, much less a complete stranger. She squared up to her, she was easily five inches taller. Delphine grabbed her by her uniform roughly, wearing an expression of blank fury. She opened her mouth to speak, her anger only allowing her to access her native tongue.

"Quel est votre nom?" The taller girl turned the girl roughly, looking at the back of her uniform,

"Duncan? Votre nom est Duncan?" The shorter girl nodded, getting the gist of what her captor was saying.

"Pourquoi avez-vous frappé? Est-ce autorisé dans les règles? Je ne pense pas. Avez-vous la frappez parce que vous étiez en colère à perdre? Êtes-vous un enfant? Un animal?" Delphine's voice rose and she was shouting, "Peut-être que vous devriez rester à l'écart de la cour jusqu'à ce que vous apprenez à gérer vos émotions comme une personne normale!" By now, Delphine was shaking the girl, who looked absolutely terrified. Duncan opened her mouth to say something, but Delphine shook her again, "Ta Gueule! Ne pas ouvrir la bouche, sauf si elle est de présenter des excuses pour être un morceau de poubelle dégénéré!" Delphine had gotten so angry that she had pulled the girl to her level, the tips of her feet were barely touching the ground. She was shouting into the smaller girl's face, which had drained of all color. Delphine opened her mouth to speak again, but she felt someone tugging her arm. She turned to see Sarah, her mouth displaying glee, her eyes mortification.

"Delphine, soooo sorry to put a stop to this, I really love it," she looked to Duncan, "fuck you, by the way," she looked back to Delphine, "but if you don't stop now, you're probably going to be arrested for assault."

Delphine looked around, the entire gymnasium was staring at her, she didn't know for how long. She looked to Cosima, who was standing now, Cal's cape still pressed to her nose, she was grinning confusedly. Delphine released her grip on the girl, who stumbled a little before finding her balance, and walked to the other side of net to Cosima. Sarah pretended to hit the intimidated girl, making her flinch. Sarah chuckled and followed Delphine, "Bitch."

Delphine approached her girlfriend,

"Are you okay? Has the bleeding stopped?" Cosima nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think we should leave before, you know, someone calls the cops on you." Delphine nodded in agreement, she looked to Cal, who had untied his cape and handed the entire thing to Cosima, but was still standing by her,

"Carry her please, Cal." The boy assented and scooped up the smaller girl like it was nothing. Cosima sighed, but knew there would be no point in fighting it.

The seven exited the gym, Cosima threw up a peace sign from her place in Cal's arms, which was met by several cheers from the Dyad side. Sarah and Felix, practically skipped out of the gym, reveling in the disruption their friend caused.


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone. Sorry it's been such a long time since my last update. I've been caught up in finals and the holidays. Thanks for all of the reviews. I hope everybody enjoys this chapter, I've been working on it since before I started writing this fic. I'll be updating again soon, but if anybody has any scenarios they would like to see in future chapters, feel free to shoot me a message. :) Enjoy!**

Felix had been more insufferable than usual lately, at least to Sarah. He'd been huffy, snapping at everyone over the smallest things. He refused to talk to her any time she asked what was wrong, going so far as rushing out of the room when she'd approached him.

The other day, when Cal was over, he and Sarah had been cuddling on the couch when Felix got up from the recliner and exclaimed,

"Would you guys cool it with all the romance shit please?" Before storming upstairs. Sarah had just rolled her eyes and muttered something about Felix being a shit and went back to cuddling with Cal, who was confused by the boy's outburst. Felix was normally very charismatic and amiable, why was he being so volatile?

The sophomore's irritability had reached a fever pitch by the following week. There was a pep rally for the final football game of the season. Felix had met the others, puffy eyed. They stood in the bleachers and joked with each other, but Felix seemed to be avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially Cosima and Delphine, who were up to their usual displays of affection: holding hands, hugging, absentmindedly playing with each other's hair. No one had a problem, not even Alison, who was very much against over the top displays of affection, had a problem with their behavior. Felix, on the other hand, looked about ready to explode. He seemed to be growing redder by the second, and by then he refused to even look in their direction. He remained at a steady level of agitation until something the two girls did set him off. Cosima had turned to look at Delphine, the older girl's still very bruised nose was in the blonde's face, and in one of the most sickeningly sweet displays of affection anyone had ever seen, Delphine leaned over and nuzzled her nose against Cosima's injured one. Felix's groan could have easily been misinterpreted as a growl, and six sets of eyes were immediately on him. The boy looked both embarrassed and indignant; he faced Delphine and Cosima,

"Jesus bloody Christ! Do you guys ever stop touching each other?" The two girls cocked their heads, but Sarah had had enough,

"Felix! What is your problem? You've been damn near impossible to be around for weeks! Why are you being a shit to all of us? What the fuck is wrong with you?" The two siblings stared at each other, both in a rage. Felix clenched and unclenched his fists, grabbed his stuff and stormed out of the gym. Alison and Sarah went to follow him, Alison out of friendship, Sarah out of anger. Delphine stepped ahead of them,

"I've got it, don't worry." It took Delphine all of forty five seconds to find the boy. He was sitting cross legged, head in hands, underneath a staircase. She approached him slowly and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Felix flinched, but chuckled when he saw who it was.

"Sorry, I thought you were Sarah coming to yell at me some more." Delphine just shrugged and sat down, putting her arm around Felix. The two sat like that for a few minutes, not saying a word. Delphine looked over to Felix,

"I'm not going to yell at you, but I need to know why you have been so testy lately. You're miserable. Sarah's angry. Everyone else is on edge." Delphine spoke up. Felix sighed,

"It's just… I need to know… I can't…" He stuttered, his voice thickening, he finally took a deep breath, "I don't know how to be out. I know it, I'm certain that Sarah knows it, all of you guys probably know it, but I can never say it. I don't know how to say I'm gay." He said quickly, looking more and more distressed with each word. Delphine nodded. "I mean, how are you out? How was it that easy for you?" The older girl scoffed,

"It was not easy. But it was not that latent, and it had a specific target. I woke up one morning and realized, 'I want to kiss my best friend.' It took months to work up to actually doing it." Felix cocked his head,

"But Cosima was out, why was it hard for you?"

"Well, Cosima and I are out, why is it hard for you?" Delphine asked, cocking an eyebrow. Felix opened and closed his mouth. "Exactly. It's because it wasn't just Cosima, it was my friends, my family, anyone who saw me or Cosima together. I knew what I wanted to say, I just could not find the words. I still haven't found the words to tell my parents, they just think Cosima is my best friend, but my brothers know, and they don't care. You guys were extremely accepting. In hindsight, it is silly. I had nothing to worry about, I was just shy and self-conscious. It's easy now, I am bisexual and I love that part of me. You have no reason to be afraid either. You have a support network of people who love you to death. I mean, could you _imagine_ what Sarah would do to anyone who even _pretended _to hurt you? She would force their head into their underwear and throw them into the nearest trashcan, Alison would take them out of the trashcan, give them a stern talking to, and put them back in, afterwards, Cosima would hurt their feelings so accurately and precisely that they would never want to leave the trashcan, and that is assuming that you didn't do all of that stuff first." Felix smiled and hugged Delphine for a long time.

"Thanks, Delphine." He said into her shoulder. She just smiled and hugged him closer,

"It's no problem. I'm proud of you, and I believe in you. You do what you think is right, and you can talk to me about anything you want to." The boy just nodded.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes until the pep rally ended and people began filing out of the gym. The others found them sitting quietly together. Alison saw them first,

"There you guys are, is everything okay?" She asked, handing Delphine her backpack, which she had left behind.

"Yes, Alison, everything's fine. Felix and I were just having a talk." Delphine answered, not giving away too much. She figured that Felix would tell everyone when he felt it was right. Alison gave a nervous smile and looked to the others. Cosima and Cal just seemed curious, but Sarah still looked a little upset. Felix took a deep breath,

"I'm uh…I'm sorry for how I've been treating everybody recently. I've been a little on edge, and I took it out on you guys. I appreciate your patience. It's just that," Felix cleared his throat and steeled himself, "I'm gay, and I've been trying to find the words to say it for a while." He finished rather awkwardly. It was quiet for a few seconds, until Sarah started laughing and shaking her head.

"You idiot. I love you no matter what." She kneeled down next to her brother and hugged him for a long time. The others took their turn showing Felix their support, hugging him and expressing their pride. After a few minutes of this, the six stood up and left the school, Felix felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, I'm back! I think this is my longest chapter yet, and I'm very proud of it. I hope you guy enjoy it. Again, if anyone has any requests/suggestions/input, I'd be more than happy to hear it. Thanks for reading!**

Sarah Manning had been an angry child, she'd jumped from foster home to foster home for most of her childhood, when she was in the second grade she was legally adopted by some lady who called herself 'Mrs. S' and met her foster brother, a small boy, two years younger than her named Felix. She hated both of them. Mrs. S was too bossy and Felix was too loud. She fought with Mrs. S constantly, about the state of her room, her bedtime, her schoolwork, anything that could be argued about, they argued about.

One day, though, Sarah crossed a line. It was mid-morning and Sarah was still trying to sleep. In the next room, she could hear Felix playing, he was being so loud for so long that the girl flew out of her bed, stormed into his room and grabbed him by the collar. She dragged him down the hall, shouting about him being too noisy, all he could do was whimper and try to stay standing. She stopped when they were about four feet away from the top of the stairs. All she meant to do was turn him around and make him think she was gonna throw him. All she wanted to do was scare the boy, but his momentum caused her to lose control and accidentally fling him away from her. Felix flew forward and hit his head on the banister. The whole house was silent for a whole second before Felix's wails filled its halls. He sat up to face Sarah, his eyes were full of terror and there was blood pouring out of a large gash on the right side of his forehead. Sarah knew she'd gone too far. She immediately started crying she rushed to her sobbing foster brother and scooped him up to the best of her eight year old abilities. She whispered apologies and comforting words to the boy and managed to get him to his feet. She led him to the bathroom and tried to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't working. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was about to do.

She looked down at Felix, who was sat on the toilet,

"I need to go get Mrs. S, just sit still and keep pressing the towel to your head." She implored. He shook his head as much as he could,

"Please don't go!" Sarah sighed nervously and brought him to his feet, she gently led him downstairs and outside to the garden where Mrs. S was working. The woman heard the door close and turned to look at them, her eyes widened when she saw Sarah delicately holding a bloody rag to Felix's forehead, both of them sobbing. She rushed over to them, and took the rag out of Sarah's hands. She got a good look at the boys wound. It wasn't that bad, it didn't look like it needed stitches.

"What the hell happened?" She asked. Sarah took a shaky breath and explained that Felix had been making too much noise, and all she meant to do was scare him by threatening to throw him down the stairs, but she accidentally let go of him and he'd hit his head on the railing,

"I tried to stop the bleeding myself but I couldn't so I came to get you and I'm so sorry!" She finished. Mrs. S nodded, she picked Felix up with one arm and grabbed Sarah's hand with the other, leading them inside. She sat Sarah on the couch and took Felix to the kitchen. The girl fidgeted, scared for Felix and for the punishment she was likely to receive. About fifteen minutes later, Mrs. S walked into the living room, she sat next to Sarah.

"Is he okay?" The girl sniffled. Mrs. S nodded,

"He's fine. He's sleeping in his room now. It could have been much worse, though. What if he had needed to get stitches? Or if he had broken a bone? Or you had actually thrown him down the stairs?" The woman's eyes bore into Sarah, who cowed more with each hypothetical.

"I'm sorry." Sarah whimpered. Mrs. S shook her head,

"It's not me you have to apologize to, it's him." Sarah sighed. "I'm not going to punish you, but I need you to make a deal with me." Sarah cocked her head.

"What?"

"You aren't going to say or do anything mean to him anymore. You aren't going to let anybody say or do anything mean to him. You aren't going to let anything bad happen to him, do you understand?" Mrs. S looked at the girl. Sarah nodded. "Good. He looks up to you, and you can't keep taking your frustrations out on him, if you have any problem with him, you come to me, okay, chicken?" Sarah nodded again and the women pulled her into a hug, which Sarah tentatively returned.

Sarah took her foster mother's words to heart, and looked after the younger boy wherever he went. In fact, not three weeks after the incident, Sarah shoved a pebble down the throat of a boy who forced Felix off of a swing at the playground.

The two became inseparable, Sarah was quick to protect Felix, and her maternal instincts caused her to fiercely protect anyone she was friends with or who she thought needed protecting. In the third grade she saw two kids ganging up on another girl in her class, the girl seemed to be holding her own just fine, but Sarah thought the two on one dynamic was unfair, so she walked over and stood next to the girl, she squared up and tried her best to look intimidating while the other girl shouted them down. That seemed to do the trick and the two kids stalked off, the girl, who seemed rather high strung, looked to Sarah and cocked her head. Sarah just nodded and turned to leave, the girl grabbed her by the shoulder,

"Wait," Sarah turned around, "thank you." The girl said sheepishly.

"It was no problem." Sarah shrugged. The girl grinned and stuck out her hand,

"I'm Alison." Sarah took the girl's hand and shook, a little confused by the girl's professionalism,

"I'm Sarah." Alison nodded. She began sitting next to Sarah and Felix at lunch, and inviting her to play. Alison's verbal intensity matched Sarah's physical intensity, and the two became unlikely friends.

In the fourth grade, Sarah wasn't in the same class as Alison, and only saw her and Felix at lunch time. She had a tough time adjusting to her new surroundings and didn't talk unless absolutely necessary. She came in on the third week of school to find a new student sitting in class. He had short brown hair and a big nose that stood out in the center of his face. He looked nervous. The other kids in the class looked at him and whispered to each other, making him look more and more nervous. Sarah looked at them angrily and walked across the room in confident strides. She sat next to the boy and looked around at her classmates, daring them to say anything else. The boy looked at her, and she saw just a ghost of an appreciative smile on his face. The two sat quietly until the teacher called the class to attention,

"Good morning everybody. We have a new student joining us today," she motioned for the boy to rise. He was a little taller than average, he stood with shy, stooped shoulders, "everybody, this is Calvin Morrison, he's new to the school. Where are you from, Calvin?" The teacher asked sweetly, the boy cleared his throat,

"I'm from Oregon." He answered meekly. The teacher nodded enthusiastically,

"Welcome, Calvin," she looked to the rest of the class, "I want all of you to be extra helpful to Calvin and make sure he feels welcome here, okay?" The class nodded.

As the day went by, Sarah observed her new classmate. She learned that his father was in the military and that he moved around a lot, she also learned that if she was shy, Calvin was invisible. He had a hard time making eye contact with others, he grinned in response to most things, and he kept to the side of any activities. Sarah liked it. She seemed to be the only person to make an attempt to get to know the boy for the first few days. He was meticulous in his schoolwork, and he helped keep Sarah focused on hers. She helped him get to know the school, and introduced him to Felix and Alison. The boy began sitting with them at lunch. He was nice enough to get along with Felix, and just uptight enough to get along with Alison.

The two got closer throughout the year, Sarah got Calvin to be more assertive and was able to bring him out of his shell. Calvin got Sarah to lighten up, and was able to talk her out of her rages. They were an unstoppable duo of trust and mutual support.

They were halfway through the summer between fourth and fifth grade when Calvin broke the news,

"Virginia?! Where the hell is that?" Sarah asked, a mix of hurt and surprise. Calvin shrugged,

"Somewhere in America. My dad got transferred to there, I have to leave in three weeks."

"How long are you gonna be gone?" Sarah asked, desperately trying to think of a way to keep from losing her best friend.

"I don't know. We might have to move again after that, too. I'm not sure if I'll be able to come back here." Calvin said, growing more and more anxious. Sarah looked at him in anguish. Her eyes were watering and her throat was constricting. Calvin opened his arms for a hug and Sarah leaned into him. The two of them hugged for what felt like hours.

They spent the next few weeks spending every waking hour together, Sarah even helped Calvin pack up his room, holding back a panicked scream every time she entered his soon to be empty house.

Eventually, it was time for Calvin to leave, Sarah came to his house three hours before he was set to depart. The car was packed with the stuff that hadn't been put in the trailers. The pair sat on the floor of Calvin's empty room, not saying anything. Sarah cleared her throat, trying to keep her voice from shaking too much,

"I, uh… I got you something…to remember me by." She pulled a Toronto Blue Jays hat out of the bag she was carrying. She turned it over in her hands a few times before she gave it to him. He took it and looked at it with a smile before putting it on. His ears stuck out even more with it on, Sarah laughed. Calvin reached into his pocket,

"I got you something too." He pulled a little leather bracelet out of his pocket. The beads on it that spelled out "Sar&amp;Cal". He helped Sarah put it on and they spent the rest of their time sitting in silence.

When it was time to go, Sarah and Calving hugged each other tightly for several minutes, Sarah walked him all the way up to his car and leaned in to hug him again, there were tears running down both of their faces. Finally, Calvin drove away and Mrs. S drove Sarah home.

Sarah spent the next few weeks recuperating from the departure of her best friend. It took a while, but eventually she was able to move on with the help of Alison and Felix, but every once in a while she'd remember something they'd done together, or something he'd taught her, and she'd feel a twinge of sadness.

By junior high, those feelings were few and far between. She had grown into herself more and was more confident. She no longer felt the need to challenge every authority figure in her life. In seventh grade, there was a girl who had moved to Toronto from a place in America called San Francisco. Sarah had perked up and looked at the girl, who had since introduced herself as Cosima, she wore glasses and a smug look on her face,

"Is that near Virginia?" She had asked hopefully. The girl looked at her in confusion,

"Nah, Virginia's like three thousand miles away from San Francisco." Sarah couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

A month or so into eighth grade, Sarah and Alison were standing by their lockers, talking about a history assignment, when Cosima walked up and began to unlock her locker,

"Oh, hey, there's a new student here. I think he's gonna be in our first period." She remembered, still fidgeting with her lock.

"How do you know?" Alison asked.

"I was in the office asking if anyone had turned in my inhaler when I saw this kid and his dad talking to the schedule lady." Cosima said between frustrated huffs, the more she talked the more her hands moved, making it harder to open her locker. Alison rolled her eyes and shooed Cosima out of the way, taking her friend's lock in her hand, working with it. Cosima looked down the hall and saw the new student at his locker,

"Hey, there he is." She whispered, nudging Sarah and Alison. The boy was taller than average. He was gangly and awkward looking. He had shaggy hair that covered most of his profile. Even with the blocked view, something about him seemed vaguely familiar to Sarah. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, though. Maybe it was the nose sticking prominently past his hair, or the stooped shoulders, or the blue ball cap barely poking through the top of his messenger bag. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She _knew _this boy, but for the life of her she couldn't remember from where. The bell rang before she could figure it out, though. She and her friends walked to class about thirty feet behind the boy, but Sarah lost him in the sea of students.

When she got to her history class and saw groups of classmates gathered around together, whispering to each other and stealing glances at the boy sitting at the far end of the classroom, who was nervously playing with his pencil, she felt the most jarring case of déjà vu she'd ever experienced. She shook it loose and looked around at all the kids who were talking about him but not _to _him. She grimaced and walked across the room with confident strides, followed by her two friends. She sat down next to the boy and looked at her classmates, daring them to keep talking. The boy turned to her, and that's when it hit her. The ghost of a smile turned into a slacked jaw, which Sarah was sure she was mirroring. The two kids were too shocked to say anything, so Alison's gasp broke the ice,

"Calvin! Sarah, it's Calvin!" Alison turned around and looked at a confused Cosima, "_That's _Calvin." Cosima looked even more confused for a few seconds until she remembered the stories she'd been told about a boy Sarah used to be friends with. Calvin chuckled,

"Actually, Alison, it's just 'Cal' now." His voice was deeper but still very familiar. He spoke with the same cadences and tones. He looked Sarah in the eyes and was about to open his mouth when the bell rung and the teacher walked in,

"Alright, class, there's a new student here today," the teacher announced, "why don't you stand up and introduce yourself?" Cal chuckled at the astounding familiarity and stood up,

"Hi, I'm Cal, I moved here from Virginia." He sat down quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Cal, I'm Mr. Foster, welcome to Ford Junior High." The teacher concluded. The class went on as usual, Sarah and Cal exchanged curious glances, both of them familiarizing themselves with the other's appearance again.

Sarah waited anxiously for the bell to ring, and when it did, she looked to her childhood friend.

"What are you doing back here?" She asked, excited and disbelieving.

"My dad got a permanent assignment here, so I don't have to move anymore." Cal said, grinning widely. Sarah laughed,

"That's awesome, I'm so happy. Let me look at your schedule, I wanna see what classes you have." She looked over the boy's list of classes,

"Looks like you'll have English next period with Alison, she'll show you around, don't worry. You have Algebra with Cosima 5th period, and science 7th period with me. And you have lunch with all of us, so that's cool. You'll have to sit with us." Sarah was surprised by her enthusiasm, by the looks of it, so were her friends. Cal just nodded,

"Yeah, definitely. I'll see you then." They didn't quite know how to appropriately depart from one another, they eventually settled on a shy wave. The four kids went their respective ways to class. Sarah was nervous. She didn't know how to react to Cal's return. She was obviously happy he was back, but could they still call themselves friends? She had seen the hat she had given him in his bag, she looked at her left wrist and saw the bracelet he'd given her, old and worn. They weren't strangers, they just needed to reconnect. Sarah just didn't know how difficult it would be to actually do that.

Not hard at all, apparently. It took a couple days to work through the rust in their relationship, but after that they were back to their same rapport, their same friendship. It took five more weeks for Cal to actually ask Sarah out. Sarah laughed and said yes, grabbing his hand. Alison honestly wasn't at all surprised, and Cosima thought they'd already been dating.

They didn't ever seem to get tired of each other, and they pushed one another to be better. Cal kept Sarah focused on her schoolwork and kept her from getting in fights, Sarah encouraged Cal to relax and open up. It was like they were back in fourth grade, except this time they held hands.

By the time they'd reached twelfth grade, they were somewhat popular around the school, known as "that hot couple that's been dating since forever". They could only chuckle at the nickname, they didn't really care, they were happy that they were fortunate enough to find each other again.


	11. Chapter 10

** I meant to post this last weekend but got caught up in other things, sorry for the wait. I'll try to have another chapter up within the next week or so. Enjoy the late Valentine's Day chapter!**

"God dammit…" Cal grumbled before hanging up his phone.

"Any luck?" Sarah asked from the couch. Cal shook his head, rubbing his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"That's to be expected when you wait until the day before Valentine's Day to make a reservation." Alison chided. Felix rolled his eyes,

"A single person criticizing a couple's Valentine's Day plans, that's refreshing." Alison swatted his shoulder,

"Don't rub it in, and I'm not criticizing them as a couple, I'm criticizing them as separate individuals, both with poor planning skills." Alison defended herself.

"It shouldn't be this hard to get a table." Cal groaned. He looked to Cosima, who was sitting on the floor by the couch, thinking about nothing.

"Where are you and Delphine going for Valentine's Day?" He asked, bringing Cosima out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I don't think we're gonna go anywhere." She answered.

"What _are_ you guys doing?" Sarah asked. Cosima looked at her with a smug grin, looking at her friend like hers was the dumbest question in the world. It took Sarah a couple seconds to tune in, but then she cringed,

"Ugh, shit, gross. Sorry I asked." Cosima chuckled.

"Where is Delphine anyway?" Felix asked.

"She's at a physical therapist, she twisted her knee at lacrosse practice yesterday and is getting a brace today." Cosima supplied. The boy laughed,

"You guys are gonna be a sight. You with your swollen nose and her with the knee brace." He was exaggerating about her nose, it was still a bit swollen and purple, but it wasn't nearly as grotesque as it was a few days ago. Cosima nodded,

"That's really funny, because we're still both incredibly attractive, arguably more attractive than you, Felix." Felix tossed a pillow at her.

Cal drummed his fingers against the table, thinking about his and Sarah's options. He cocked his head a little, an idea growing in his mind,

"So, Cosima, you guys don't have any set plans?" Cosima shook her head, "And Felix and Alison obviously don't." Both of them turned to him, affronted, "How about we all just go together? It's way easier to get a six top on Valentine's Day than it is to get a two top. Let's just go out to dinner together." Cal proposed. Sarah nodded,

"I'm down for anything." Felix and Cosima nodded in agreement. Alison looked hesitant.

"I don't want to intrude on you guys."

"It's really no problem, Alison, me and Delphine are probably gonna watch movies at my house all tomorrow night, dinner'll just be a fun hang out with all of you guys." Cosima reassured her friend.

"Yeah, Cal's so mushy all the time, I doubt he could be any worse tomorrow." Sarah said, smiling at her boyfriend.

"Okay, it sounds fun, I'm in." Alison finally agreed.

"Alright, now that we're all in, where are we going?" Felix prompted.

"How about The Fox's Den?" Cal suggested, "It's nice, and the manager owed me a favor, so I could probably get us a discount."

"Sounds good to me," Cosima answered. The others agreed.

"Alright, so let's all meet up at the restaurant at around…six-thirty tomorrow." Cal said before calling the manager.

Cosima exited Sarah's house, she took out her cell phone and called Delphine, mounting her bike and peddling down the street in the process. She'd gotten rather adept at things like this. She didn't really understand why she was so terrible at driving, well she did, she got distracted by everything, but she didn't understand _why_. She was content to ride her bike around, get rides from Delphine and only drive when absolutely necessary.

"Allo? Cosima?" Delphine's voice came through the phone.

"Oh! Sorry, I got distracted. Yeah, hey, how'd your appointment go?" Cosima asked.

"It went pretty much how I expected, I can't play for two weeks, and I have to wear the brace for six weeks." She explained. Cosima nodded, stopping at a stop sign.

"So, how do you feel about going out to dinner with everybody tomorrow night?"

"That sounds fun. We're still gonna hang out at your house, right?"

"Yeah, of course, but for dinner we're going out with the others."

"Where are we going?"

"The Fox's Den."

"Bien."

"Yes, very bien," Cosima joked, "I'll pick you up at your house at around six, be sure to dress nicely." She smiled.

You will be picking me up?" Delphine asked, confused.

"Hell yeah I'm picking up my girlfriend and taking her to dinner for Valentine's Day!" Cosima insisted.

"Of course, of course. I am very excited." Delphine giggled.

"Awesome, I'll see you tomorrow." The two exchanged goodbyes and hung up.

Sarah had just finished getting ready when her doorbell ring. She padded downstairs and opened the door, there stood Cal, holding a bunch of heart-shaped balloons and a giant stuffed monkey. Sarah laughed and let him in, taking the things from his hands.

"I thought you might like this." He said, gesturing towards the stuffed animal.

"I do. I love it, thank you." Sarah said, still giggling. She walked up the stairs and put the things in her room, when she came back down, the two were finally able to get a good look at each other. Cal looked rather debonair in a sharp black tuxedo, his beard trimmed neatly. Sarah was a vision in a blue floor length dress, she had put the hair on the left side of her head into intricate side braids. Sarah nodded approvingly, "We look good. Good for us." Cal laughed.

So, are you ready to go?" He asked, nervous for some reason. Sarah nodded, picking up her heels and scampering outside into Cal's truck.

Cosima drove very carefully down the cul-de-sac, keeping both hands on the wheel, looking only at the road in front of her. She parked her father's car in front of Delphine's house. She proceeded to take the keys out of the ignition, deliberately put them in her purse, and put the purse on her shoulder. She would _not_ lose them again. She got out of the car and walked up the path to the front door. She rang the bell, adjusting her maroon dress. The door opened and she was face to face with Baptiste, Delphine's older brother. He was three years older than her girlfriend. They looked almost identical, except his nose was a little bigger, his jaw more square. The young man grinned at her,

"Hello, Cosima, how are you?"

"I'm good, Baptiste. Is Delphine ready?"

"Almost, come in, please." He gestured. The girl walked into the house. She entered the living room and sat down, Baptiste sat on the couch across from her. She'd always enjoyed Baptiste. He was nice to her when her and Delphine were just friends, and didn't change at all when he'd learned of their relationship. Her favorite thing about Baptiste, though, was how he would do absolutely anything for his sister, her younger brother, Clement, would too. Both of them were completely devoted to their sister. It was endearing and impressive. She remembered the time when she was in tenth grade and Delphine in ninth, they were climbing a tree in Delphine's front yard when the younger girl had fallen out, landing squarely on her back. Baptiste, seventeen at the time, had picked her up and carried her into the house and upstairs into her bedroom, reassuring both of them the whole time. Cosima and Baptiste conversed for a few minutes until she saw Delphine coming down the stairs, she was in a black and white dress. _Typical_, Cosima thought sarcastically. She got up to get a better look at the girl.

"You look great." She said excitedly. Delphine looked doubtful,

"Even with the brace?" Cosima didn't even notice the sleeve around her left knee until then.

"It's the perfect accessory. Don't worry." She reassured the blonde. The two said goodbye to Baptiste and left the house. They got in the car and were about to leave when Cosima remembered something,

"Oh, hey, I got you something, look in the backseat." She motioned to the wrapped object behind her. Delphine reached over and grabbed it. It only took Delphine a second to figure out what it was, she looked at Cosima excitedly. She unwrapped the gift and found a very nice, very new lacrosse stick.

"I bought it before you busted your knee, I'm not being mean." Cosima explained, Delphine laughed in understanding. She examined the stick, it was nice, the head was standard white and the shaft was black and yellow.

"Thank you, I love it." Delphine smiled.

"It was no problem, I'm glad you like it." Cosima said, wrapping her arm around her. She started the car and drove away from the house.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Cal and Alison's cars were already in the lot. Cosima shrugged it off, saying something about safe driving. When out of the car the two locked hands and entered the restaurant. They looked around for the others and saw Felix waving them down. He looked good. His hair was swept back and he wore a fitted long sleeved button up. Seated on the other end of the table was Alison, matching him in a white sundress. On one side was Sarah and Cal, both looking great, there were two empty chairs on the other side for them. The girls sat down,

"You guys look great." Delphine complemented.

"Thanks, so do you guys." Alison replied. The six began talking about their day and were happy to spend Valentine's Day with each other.


	12. Chapter 11

**This chapter is kind of a prologue to the prologue. I hope you enjoy, I loved writing it. **

Delphine didn't necessarily want to move from France. She enjoyed living there and she liked most of her friends. When she found out her parents had both gotten jobs in Canada, of all places, she was a bit upset, but she got used to the idea after she did some research on her soon to be home. She got even more used to the idea when her parents finally agreed to let her get braces.

As the school year grew nearer, some of her old apprehensions returned. I can barely speak English and my braces garble my speech even more, how is anyone going to understand me? She spent thirty minutes every day practicing enunciation. She got her schedule worked out in late August, picking the hardest classes available, hoping that fully involving herself in her studies would help her get situated faster.

When school finally rolled around, she spent the whole car ride trying not to vomit, while Baptiste, a senior and significantly angrier about moving than his sister, stewed in the driver's seat. She got out of the car with her brother, who put his arm around her and spoke rapidly in French,

"If you have any problems, any at all, call me, text me, find me in person; I'll take care of it," he pulled her into a hug, "have a great day, I love you." Delphine returned his words and the two entered the building.

The first half of the day was a complete blur. She went from class to class, answering the same questions, "Are you new here?" "I love your accent, where are you from?" "Is Canada different from France?" She was a little numb to all of it until the lunch bell rang. Then it hit her, she would have to eat lunch at her new school. She pulled out her phone and frantically texted her brother, asking if he had first lunch. Her stomach lurched when he replied in the negative. She declined his offers to leave class and eat with her anyway, if that was what she wanted. She would have to get over this sometime.

She entered the cafeteria and chose an isolated table in the corner, so she could observe the room and go relatively unnoticed. She ate her lunch in silence, looking at the various students. Her eyes kept coming back to a table towards the center. Sitting there were three girls and a boy. Looking at the lack of personal space between the boy and one of the girls, they seemed to be dating. One girl sat upright and laughed at whatever the first girl had said. The third girl at the table was a bit slouched, listening to the conversation somewhat absentmindedly, smiling at random times, adjusting her glasses at others. Delphine's stomach jumped when the girl's gaze met hers, and they briefly made eye contact.

Cosima was enjoying lunch. She liked being back at school, and was half-listening to her friends joke around, half-thinking about what the rest of the day had in store. She was scanning the room, taking in information when she locked eyes with are girl, who looked away quickly, shifting awkwardly. Cosima turned her eyes momentarily, but looked back to the girl, who was now looking at another table. She was eating alone, so she was either new or a freshman, maybe both? She was pretty, she had curly blonde hair and nice cheekbones.

She zoned out a little while observing the girl's mannerisms, she felt drawn to the girl and didn't know why.

"Cosima? Hey! Cosima? What are you looking at?" Alison brought her out of her trance.

"What? Oh, no one-I mean nothing. I mean nothing." Cosima stammered. Alison, used to such idiosyncrasies, leaned closer to Cosima and followed her line of sight, looking directly at the girl sitting by herself. Alison smirked and looked at her friend, who looked confused,

"What?" She asked, incredulous. Sarah spoke up,

"Are you guys talking about how Cosima's been staring at that girl for like, ten minutes?" Cosima looked even more incredulous,

"What are you guys talking about? I was just looking at her, nothing more." The girl defended herself.

"She's eating by herself, maybe she's just a freshman, or new. Could she be both?" Cal wondered aloud, finally chiming in. Cosima nodded in agreement, then she realized that all of her friends were staring at the girl,

"Guys, stop staring! You're gonna freak her out." The others averted their gaze.

"So, when're you gonna talk to her?" Sarah asked bluntly. Cosima rolled her eyes,

"I don't even know her! I saw her for the first time like two seconds ago. And I wasn't even really looking at her, I was just staring into space." She lied. All of her friends saw right through it, Cosima had a habit of falling in love with strangers on a daily basis. The bell rang before anyone could reply.

Cosima left the cafeteria, already over the exchange between her and her friends, mostly because they were right in their assumptions. Cosima was content to let this be a "secretly pine over them when we pass in the hallway" kind of crush. She entered her speech class and sat down. She looked around the room, watching other kids get settled into seats beside their friends. She looked towards the entrance and saw the blonde girl looking around awkwardly, probably not knowing where to sit. Part of her wanted to look down and not acknowledge the girl that somehow gave her butterflies after only one instance of eye contact, but the maternal/protective/confident/whatever one would call what Cosima felt bubbling up in her chest won over, and she found herself waving to get the girl's attention.

The blonde girl's eyes snapped to hers, Cosima motioned for her to sit down next to her. She crossed the room, looking nervous, and sat down next to Cosima. The brunette cleared her throat,

"You looked nervous, I didn't want you to sit by yourself." The other girl nodded in appreciation, not saying anything. Cosima shrugged good naturedly and continued to look around the room.

Delphine didn't know what possessed the girl to call her over, but she was thankful. She was a bit embarrassed about not saying anything to her, but she reasoned that silence was better than the girl not understanding her the first time, and her having to repeat herself. She picked at the desk nervously, trying not to seem obvious about watching the girl in the periphery. After a few seconds, she realized that the girl she was sitting next to was the one she saw in the cafeteria. After she'd looked away she could feel the rest of the table looking at her. Could this girl only have invited to sit with her as a joke? Was she being made fun of? Delphine pushed these nervous thoughts away, telling herself she was overthinking things.

The teacher stepped in front of the class and explained that since this was a class about public speaking, everyone would have to stand in front of the room and introduced themselves. Delphine felt a wave of mortal terror wash over her. Merde. She felt a little better when the teacher started at the front of the classroom; she was sitting towards the back. She stared straight forward, focusing on what to say. The common theme of each introduction seemed to be: name, grade, where they were from-if applicable- and what they did over the summer. Delphine began constructing what she was going to say, trying to avoid making any mistakes in English. It was finally her turn. She took a shaky breath and walked to the front of the room. She stood and looked at everybody, trying to not focus on anybody in particular, but she found her eyes focused on the girl she'd been sitting with. Her face was disarming, she felt herself relax a little.

Cosima watched the girl at the front of the room. She looked exceptionally nervous. The blonde cleared her throat and began to speak. What came out put an involuntary ache in Cosima's chest. The girl was struggling against very thick accent, and apparently also a set of braces. The girl's name was Delphine. She was a freshman, and had just moved from France, Cosima realized that she was correct in her assumptions, and had spent the summer getting to know the area. Cosima's attention was turned to her classmates, struggling to understand what the girl at the front was saying. Cosima could not relate- every word out of the Delphine's mouth was crystal clear to her.

Delphine exhaled, feeling herself enter her body again, a few kids nodded in acknowledgement, the girl she was sitting next to blinked a few times; she shuffled back to her seat, the other girl gave her a nervous thumbs up and took her place.

"Hi, I'm Cosima, I'm in tenth grade, I'm from San Francisco, but I moved here in seventh grade. I spent my summer hanging out with friends and doing homework." Delphine watched the girl gesture wildly in time with her words, she felt a pang of envy. This girl could express herself easily, of course, these were just mundane things, but even then Delphine could feel a sense of authenticity in Cosima's words. The girl gave herself at face value, it intrigued Delphine.

Cosima sat back down and the two tried not to look at each other for the rest of the class. When the bell rang, Cosima walked as quickly as she could to her next class, which happened to be English. She burst into the busy classroom and found Sarah and Alison nearly immediately, stalking over to them. The two looked at her and she spoke in a low, urgent tone,

"She's French."

"Who?" The other girls asked in unison.

"That girl I was staring at during lunch." Cosima elaborated.

"I thought you said you weren't staring at her." Sarah grinned smugly.

"Okay, I lied, move past it. She's in my speech class and she's new and hella French." Cosima rushed. Alison stared at her expectantly,

"So did you talk to her?"

"No. We had to introduce ourselves to the class. We didn't have time to talk." The girl sounded disappointed. Sarah patted her on the shoulder,

"I'm sure you'll work up the courage the talk to her in a year or so." Cosima shoved her playfully.

The next day, Cosima entered her speech class, feeling a mix of excitement and dread in her chest. Delphine was already sitting where she was the day before. The two exchanged a brief greeting. Cosima collected her nerves and was ready to talk to the blonde when the teacher spoke up,

"Alright guys, I want everybody to find a partner, and I want the two of you to make a presentation about a current event that interests you. The next four days will be for you to work." At that, the teacher sat down and left the students to themselves. Cosima breathed a sigh of relief, glad to actually have a reason to speak to this girl.

"So…" Cosima looked at Delphine, not quite knowing what to say. Delphine looked at her attentively, "what kind of current events are you interested in?" Delphine thought for a second.

"I like science." She offered. Cosima perked up,

"Really? What kind of science?"

"Biology."

"No way! I love biology, too. We should do our presentation over it." Cosima looked excited, Delphine agreed. The two spoke at great lengths about various scientific concepts and exchanged phone numbers. The girls left class, both happy for different reasons. Delphine, because finally, after an agonizingly lonely summer, she'd finally found someone around her age who shared her interests to talk to. Her new friend was charming and intuitive and disarming and smart. Delphine was awe of how smart her new friend was. She seemed to know everything about everything, but she wasn't patronizing about it. Cosima seemed genuinely excited to share what she knew with the new girl.

Cosima was glad that Delphine was likeable. Well, she was more than likeable, but she figured that dwelling on the girl's many positive attributes would not help her situation. She was glad that Delphine was so unbelievably, incredibly likeable because it meant that she'd get to spend more time with the girl, and that her personality wouldn't taint the idea she had accidentally formed about the girl before they'd even met. The second one was kind of creepy, Cosima could admit, but she was so used to halfheartedly pining over so many people that this was just part of the deal. She'd see someone cute, speak to them, realize they didn't vibe together, deflate a little, and then move on. Cosima was almost always able to stop pining after she'd met the person, so she saw Delphine's likeability as a great opportunity for a new friendship.

The friendship grew naturally, eventually their conversations didn't start with or revolve around their speech class. It started with Cosima inviting Delphine to sit with her and the others at lunch. She got along well with all of them, Sarah's abrasiveness was a little hard to get used to at first, but Delphine grew to like that about Sarah. Cal was very nice to her, being the most recent new kid. Alison was accommodating, chastising Sarah when she wasn't.

The next step was Delphine hanging out with her new friends outside of school. Delphine met Felix, Sarah's foster brother, who was in the eighth grade. Felix's dry, wicked sense of humor got to Delphine and the two became fast friends.

Another step was Cosima going to Delphine's house and meeting her family. Delphine's parents were both kind, a little busy with work but still very attentive towards Delphine and her brothers. Her younger brother, Clement was a sweet nine year old boy who got excited about anything and everything, and her older brother, Baptiste, Cosima had already met at school. He was a broody young man who was still somewhat angry at his parents for making him move before his last year of high school. Cosima liked him because he was funny and drove them places whenever they asked. Occasionally, she and Delphine and the others would go watch his soccer games, it was during one of those games- when everybody was happy and no one was talking, when the two girls would look at each other excitedly- when Cosima realized that the pining she had felt originally had blossomed into a fully-fledged crush, its branches wrapping around the older girl's ribs, grabbing hold of her entire body. Cosima shoved the branches away and tried to act as if they weren't growing up her spinal column and into her skull.

By the end of the first semester, Delphine was fully assimilated into her new school and her new friend group. The rest of the year went by, Delphine was confident enough to make friends on her own, she went on silly ninth grade dates with boys she liked, she saw Cosima go on casual dates with what few girls there were who were also out and confident enough to publically date other girls. The summer went by without a hitch, Delphine spent the first month in France, but the last two with her friends, spending days in Sarah's basement, playing video games, or in Cosima's pool.

When eleventh grade started, Cosima's crush was eating her alive. An orchard was inside of her, rows upon rows of reminders of the blonde: her laugh, a reserved thing, her mouth was always closed, when Cosima realized it was because she was shy about her braces, she felt another trunk explode out of her gut and straight into her solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. There was an entire row dedicated to the face Delphine made when she was about to call one of her friends out: it started with a quirking of her eyebrows, a shifting of the eyes, then Delphine would pull a bit of her top lip between her teeth, visibly analyzing what she had just heard, then Delphine would release her lip and her mouth would form a slight smile, lastly, she would cock her head to the side and say something both biting and incredibly smart. All of this would occur within a space of four seconds. It physically hurt Cosima every time it happened. With all of Delphine's habits and idiosyncrasies, it took all of Cosima's willpower to keep the leaves from poking through her skin, the last thing she wanted was for this to become visible to Delphine. She didn't want to lose her best friend.

Delphine ran into a problem a month or two into the second semester of the tenth grade. She had just received her driver's license, and the first person she'd thought to celebrate with was Cosima. The older girl had her license, but had only been granted it through sheer willpower and luck. She'd apparently had to take the test four times before finally succeeding. Cosima was smart enough to stick to riding her bike. Delphine texted Cosima at around six at night, asking her if she wanted to go driving with her. Cosima had agreed immediately. Half an hour later, Delphine was at the older girl's house. The two drove around for about an hour and a half, it had gotten dark and Delphine pulled the car into the parking lot of an elementary school. They talked for a while, their faces illuminated by the lights of the dashboard and the headlights reflecting off of the brick building. Delphine looked at her friend but couldn't quite hear what she was saying, somehow her brain had decided that the song, by some British band Cosima was into, that was playing softly through the speakers was more important to hear than her friend's words.

It hit me like a beam of light, it hit me like a hook to the right. Delphine felt her stomach clench. It felt like something had just punched up through her stomach and into her chest. The blonde was honest enough with herself to immediately recognize what it was. She, Delphine Cormier, had a crush on her best friend.

"Delphine? Hey, Delphine? Are you okay?" Cosima knocked her out of her trance.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry." Delphine jumped. Cosima cocked her head to the side. God, don't do that. Delphine begged internally.

"Are you sure?" Delphine nodded,

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired."

"Well if you're tired, we should go home, falling asleep at the wheel is like, the number one thing they advise against, isn't it?" Cosima grinned cheekily, sticking her tongue slightly through her teeth. Jesus Christ, please don't do that. Delphine silently implored.

"You're right, it's getting late; I should take you home." Delphine said, somewhat mechanically. Cosima gave her a puzzled look but nodded in agreement.

When Delphine got home, she walked up to her room and sat on her bed, head in hands. She thought for a few minutes, and a few days, and a few months. She finished thinking in May, a month before the end of the school year. She had finally formulated a plan. Now she just needed the courage to actually carry out the plan.


	13. Chapter 12

**Hey guys. I am so SO sorry that I haven't updated in so long: I've been working on this chapter for a really long time, it's really long and I lost my flash drive for a few weeks. This is a VERY late Spring Break chapter, but it's a camping/road trip chapter so hopefully y'all can forgive me. This chapter is so long that I'll be posting it in installments. This is the first of probably 3-4 installments. If anyone has any suggestions for what they'd like to see in future installments, PM me or just leave in the reviews, I'd be more than happy to write it. The same goes for any other AUs you'd like me to write. Please enjoy this chapter, I'll hopefully have the next one up soon.**

It was late February and the six were hanging out in Cosima's rec room, Felix and Delphine were playing RockBand, the other four were playfully mocking their attempts. Cosima had just finished critiquing Felix's methods on guitar when Delphine tossed a drumstick at her head, playing with one stick and her hand,

"Do you want to play, or are you afraid you will do worse than us?" She challenged, not at all phased by her missing stick. Cosima shrugged,

"I've played that game a thousand times, this is more fun." She grinned. Delphine motioned for her stick back and the brunette handed it over.

After the song was over, Alison raised a valid question,

"What is everybody doing for Spring Break?"

"I don't really have any plans, I was just gonna do homework, but it doesn't look like any teachers are gonna assign anything major." Cosima answered, the others said the same.

"Well, why don't we do something?" Alison proposed.

"What do you have in mind?" Delphine asked for elaboration.

"I don't know, something we could all do together. This is my last Spring Break of high school, it's also you guys'," she motioned to Cal, Cosima and Sarah, "I think we should do something memorable." Everyone nodded in agreement. They sat for a few minutes, thinking of possible ideas. Cal chewed on his bottom lip, an obvious tell.

"What is it, Cal?" Sarah said, attuned to his facial expressions.

"This is kind of a long shot, but it would be cool," the others looked at him expectantly, "my parents have a cabin- well, it's more of a lake house- about five hours away from here; maybe we could drive up there and stay a few days?"

"That's a great idea, Cal! How come you've never mentioned it before?" Sarah asked. The boy shrugged,

"I didn't remember it until now. We haven't gone up there in a few years. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a small kitchen, if I'm remembering correctly." He admitted. Sarah looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her skull, she was in complete disbelief that her boyfriend had never mentioned the _ideal_ vacation spot. "I can go call my dad right now and ask, if you guys think it's a good idea." Cal asked.

"Yes!" Everybody answered in unison, already imagining the various things they would be able to get away with in the lake house. Cal jumped a bit at their eagerness, got his phone out of his pocket and left the room to call his father. The room was dead silent for the seven minutes he was out. Nobody wanted to jinx their chances by speaking. Cal came back into the room. When he realized nobody was going to prompt him to speak, he answered their silent question,

"He said that it would probably be a little run down, but everything should be in working order, and if everybody has permission to go, we can take his SUV down there over the break." Everybody sighed in relief, this was the best possible news they could have received.

"Well, I should have no problem getting permission," Cosima said, taking a mental inventory, "Delphine's parents seemingly trust me with her life, so she'll probably be allowed to go," Delphine smiled, "Felix, Sarah, do you think Mrs. S will let you guys go?" She looked at the siblings, who looked at each other, conversing silently, moving their brows and tilting their heads, Felix looked back at Cosima and nodded affirmatively. "Good, now all we need is for Alison's parents to let her go. Alison, what is your gut telling you?" Alison thought for a second,

"Well, I think if they talk to Cal's parents and know exactly where the lake house is, I'll be fine."

"Make sure to cover everything when proposing it." Cosima said, now in full planning mode. The others could see the gears turning in her head. Alison nodded and grabbed her phone, not bothering to leave the room, she was about to dial when Cosima remembered something,

"Don't call your mom, call your dad. He's way more sentimental, he'll be easier to convince." Alison thanked her for the reminder. Alison called her dad and the others tried to put the pieces together using the side of the conversation they could hear.

"Hey, Dad. It's Alison." The girl and her father exchanged a few greetings before Alison got to her point, "Well, we realized that it's our last Spring Break in school together, so we were wondering if, during the break, we could go down to a lake house that belongs to Cal's parents, it's about five hours away. Would that be okay with you?" Alison delivered the last sentence very delicately. They could barely make out her father's response. Alison answered a question he had apparently asked, "It'll be me, Sarah, Cal, Felix, Delphine and Cosima. The usual group." Alison's father spoke for a little bit longer, her eyes widened and she turned her head a little to the side. Cosima immediately made eye contact with Sarah, both understanding that that look could mean one of two things. Both girls breathed a sigh of relief when Alison's look of disbelief transformed into one of complete joy, "Thank you so much dad! We'll talk more when we get home. Bye, I love you!" Alison hung up and looked to the rest of the group excitedly, "It's a go!"

With this idea now a reality, the group got to work on formulating an actual plan.

Two weeks passed, all the plans had been made and set in stone, Cal pulled into Cosima's driveway at 6:30 a.m. on the first Saturday of the break with Sarah in shotgun and Felix and Alison in the second row of his father's SUV. He had intentionally made this the last stop before leaving town because he knew that Cosima would most likely not be awake until it was ten minutes before it was time to leave. He was apparently right, because a minute or so after he sent an arrival text, Cosima and Delphine exited the house, Cosima called a goodbye to someone inside the house before closing the door. She looked exhausted, she had a backpack on and carried a duffel bag. She swayed a little in her steps, Delphine walked behind her, seemingly herding her to the car with her hand on her hip. The blonde reached for the car door and let Cosima in, the older girl climbed over Felix, who grunted at the girl, and into the third row of seats, which she would be sharing with her girlfriend. Delphine put their stuff into the hatchback, and instead of flinging herself over the seat like Cosima had, she allowed Felix to slide over and manually put the seat down. After she got in and settled herself, she greeted the others. Sarah looked back at Cosima, who was already asleep, comically wrapped in a blanket she'd retrieved from her backpack,

"Are you not tired?" She asked the younger girl, who yawned before replying,

"Non, I am. I'm just much better at hiding it."

Delphine was telling the truth, because not twenty-five minutes after they pulled out of Cosima's driveway, the blonde had joined Cosima under the blanket and the two were asleep on top of each other like a couple of baby raccoons. Felix hummed in amusement,

"I didn't know it was possible for two people to fall asleep while hugging each other, especially in a car." Alison chuckled and pulled out a small throw blanket from her own backpack.

About an hour later, Cal decided it was time for a rest stop. The stopping of the car woke Sarah up, but everybody else remained asleep. The couple looked at each other, knowing what the other was thinking. They shared a grin and Cal silently counted down from three with his fingers, when he got to zero they each released a panicked scream into the car. Their friends all jerked awake, Cosima, not knowing what was going on, joined them in their screaming. Perhaps the funniest reaction was Felix's, who, before his mind was even completely alert, immediately opened the door and dragged his body out of the car, stumbling a few steps into the parking lot before stopping and turning around. Or it was Delphine's, who just covered her face with her hands as if that would make her disappear completely. Cal and Sarah burst into laughter at their friends' panic. Delphine put pulled her hands away from her face, Cosima stopped screaming, and Alison, who had jerked awake and hit her face on the window, scowled at the two.

"You assholes! That wasn't funny." Cosima said, her laugh indicated that she wasn't serious.

"Sorry, it's just too easy to scare you guys. Look at how far Felix ran." Sarah giggled, looking for her brother. He was about ten feet away from the car, heading towards Sarah's window. He got up close to the door and smacked the glass, he flipped her off and walked into the store. The others collected themselves and followed him into the store.

Cal filled up on gas while the others got snacks. Cosima had just grabbed a Snapple when she passed the candy row to see Delphine pulling several packages of Peach Rings from the shelf. Delphine turned to Cosima, who looked from her face to the four packages of Peach Rings in her hands back to her face confusedly. Delphine just shrugged,

"I like them." Cosima just grinned, this was incredibly endearing for some reason,

"Hey, I'm not gonna stop you." She walked up to Delphine, grabbed two packages of Reese's Cups, kissed the girl on the temple, and exited the aisle. She saw Felix stocking up on beef jerky and Sarah and Alison both grabbing chips, Alison a bag of Doritos and Sarah a tube of Pringles. They each paid out, Sarah bought a few snacks for Cal, and they headed outside. When they reached the car, Cal yawned,

"I'm getting kind of sleepy, can somebody else drive for a while?" He asked.

"I'll do it. I'm starting to feel antsy." Delphine volunteered. Cosima grinned,

"In that case, I call shotgun." Sarah and Cal swapped places with the girls and they hit the road. Cosima immediately reached for the iPod jack, but before she could play anything Felix warned her,

"I swear to God, if you play any of that EDM, Crystal Castles bullshit I will throw you out of the vehicle." He threatened.

"Step off, Felix, I wasn't gonna play any of that." She scoffed, pressing play on a quiet nu folk song. The music selection didn't really matter, because everyone in the back rows fell asleep, leaving Cosima and Delphine to talk quietly in the front row.

Eighty minutes passed before Felix woke up and asked if they could stop for a bathroom break. Another twenty passed until Delphine found a gas station. When the car was in park, everybody filed out and stretched their legs, trying to shake the sleep off of themselves. Alison offered to relieve Delphine from driving, which the younger girl accepted. A few more minutes went by and everybody piled back into the car, this time with Alison and Felix in the front seats and Cosima and Delphine in the second row. In the third row, Sarah and Cal giggled quietly, holding thumb wars and afterwards Cal fell asleep with his head in Sarah's lap, and she ran her fingers through his hair until she dozed off herself.

They drove for another hour and stopped at a general store about thirty minutes away from the lake house to stock up on food and any supplies they didn't already have. Cosima, once again, fell into planning mode and assigned everybody tasks, assigning herself the job of finding things for them to do at the lake house. She ambled through the store, looking at their meager DVD selection. She tried to pick things the entire group would enjoy, but couldn't find anything. She decided the next best option were horror movies, she grabbed four and was ready to leave when something a few rows ahead of her caught her eye. She got closer and saw that they were fireworks. The store was selling large wooden crates of bottle rockets for ten dollars each. Cosima chuckled to herself, _god, I love small towns_. She picked up two and kept looking for more things.

Everybody met up at the front a few minutes later, each with a basket full of stuff. Cosima, the obvious winner of this shopping trip, bragged to her friends until Sarah raised a valid point,

"Cal isn't eighteen yet, so he can't buy those with his dad's card. You're the only one here that's legal, actually." Cosima deflated a little, but shrugged, pulled out her wallet, and cut in front of her friends to buy the explosives.

When they finally pulled up to the lake house, everybody grabbed their luggage out of the back, and lined up behind Cal at the front door. He was trying to unlock the door, which had grown a little sticky after years of not being used. He finally got the door open and everybody entered, taking a preliminary look around before setting their stuff down and going back to the car to retrieve the groceries, Cal went to the other side of the cabin to turn on the utilities.


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello again! I still feel bad about how long it took me to update, so I'm updating quickly. This installment has more action than the last one. I got into a real Sarah x Cal mood with this one, so if you're into that, you're in luck. French translations are at the bottom. Enjoy!**

Once everything was put away and everything was in working order, Cal gave them a tour. The house smelled dusty, the air had been stagnant for years. Alison opened every window they passes to help alleviate the smell.

"This is the living room, as you can see. This couch is a pullout just in case." Cal said, holding his arms out. It was a spacious room, it had two couches and a loveseat, and there was a TV above the fireplace. The boy led them to the kitchen, which was now stocked with groceries. There was a small table in the far corner of the room. He took them to the first bedroom,

"This is the master bedroom, which I think Sarah and I will take." He took his and his girlfriend's stuff and tossed it on the bed. He took them upstairs, "These are the other two bedrooms, the one on the right has a nicer bed, but the one on the left is closer to the bathroom. The one on the left is usually mine, if that sweetens the pot any." Before anyone else had time to negotiate, Delphine grabbed Cosima's stuff out of her hands and went into the bedroom on the right,

"We call this one." She clipped. Felix and Alison just shook their heads and went into the further bedroom. Everyone spent a few minutes getting settled. In the master bedroom, Sarah was laying in the bed, letting Cal open the windows and clear off the dust.

"Don't you think it's kind of weird that we're sleeping in the same bed your parents have slept in?" She asked. Cal thought for a second,

"A little bit, but I think you'll change your mind when you see this." He grabbed her hand and led her out of the bed and into the bathroom, where Sarah laid eyes on the largest bathtub she'd ever seen. Cal smiled, "Imagine getting drunk in this." The words made Sarah's eyes go impossibly wider,

"You brought booze?" Cal scoffed,

"Of course I did, what else would we do at a lake house in the middle of nowhere over Spring Break besides drink?" He unzipped one of his duffel bags, it held several bottles of various alcohols. He pulled the contents of the bag onto the bed, "I tried to get everybody's favorites." He surely did. There was enough tequila to keep Cosima wasted throughout the entire trip, he got a bottle of vodka for both Alison and Delphine, two bottles of whiskey for Sarah and Felix to share, a bottle of rum for himself, three six packs of beer to play games with, and four bottles of wine for when everybody wanted to just relax. Cal pulled a few packages of Solo cups and disposable shot glasses out of his backpack. Sarah stared at the comically large amount of alcohol, she could only manage a whispered, "How?"

"A buddy of mine owed me a favor." Cal shrugged.

"How big a favor?" Sarah half shouted, still in disbelief, "I think it might be illegal for people who are _allowed_ to drink to be in possession of this much booze. And how did you carry all of this in one bag?" Cal shushed her,

"Suspend your disbelief, what's important is that we have enough alcohol to kill a grown rhinoceros, no adult supervision, and thanks to Cosima, a large amount of fireworks." Sarah started laughing,

"Alright, I won't ask any more questions. Can we go play booze Santa and deliver this to the others?" Cal grinned excitedly and put everything back in the bag.

Delphine had thought it would be a good idea to flip the mattress to get rid of the dusty smell, so the two girls were currently struggling to turn the giant thing over,

"Come on, Delphine, this is what makes or breaks relationships, we've got this." Cosima grunted. Delphine laughed and tried not to lose control of the mattress. They finally flipped it, and it took a few more minutes to get the sheets, which had been sitting by the open window, back onto the bed. When they'd finished, the two girls flopped back onto the bed, finally relaxing. Cosima rolled onto her stomach and wrapped an arm around Delphine's waist, the blonde began running her fingers through the older girl's hair,

"Are you excited to stay here?" Cosima asked, nuzzling into Delphine's shoulder. Delphine hummed sleepily, "What are you most excited about?" She asked, now placing kisses on the girl's shoulder and neck. Delphine inhaled sharply, she was now fully awake.

"You know I can't think when you're doing that, but if I have to answer, I would say," Delphine thought for a second, "the lake looks pretty enticing." Cosima, satisfied with the answer, smiled and worked her way up to Delphine's jaw, peppering it with small kisses. Delphine laughed and Cosima climbed on top of her, straddling her waist. Before things could go any further, there was a knock on the door. Cosima climbed off of her girlfriend and went to answer the door. She pulled the door open and was face to face with two bottles of liquor that Sarah was holding up, Cal was right behind her with what appeared to be more liquor,

"Guess what Cal brought!" Sarah sang. Cosima stepped back to let the two in,

"What do we have here?" She asked, taking the two bottles from her friend's hands. One was a bottle of vodka, obviously for Delphine because she herself couldn't stand the stuff, the other was a bottle of tequila. Cosima could have kissed Cal, she turned to Delphine, who was now sitting up on the bed,

"Cal brought your favorite." She grinned, tossing the vodka to her. Delphine caught it and inspected the bottle,

"Is this all for me?" She asked, she couldn't imagine ingesting all of it by herself.

"Yeah, you don't have to drink all of it, though. I also have beer and wine if you guys want that instead." Cal explained. Both girls smiled,

"This is great, Cal. Thanks." Delphine said appreciatively.

"Now I'm finally gonna get another chance to kick your ass at beer pong again." Cosima added. The other three laughed before Cal mentioned that he and Sarah still had to deliver Felix and Alison their booze. The girls thanked them again and the two left the room. Cosima closed the door and turned back to Delphine, grinning,

"Where were we?" She asked, climbing back onto the bed and onto Delphine, who rolled them over and began placing light kisses on the older girl's throat.

Felix and Alison had completely unpacked their luggage and were currently organizing it into the dresser. Alison found a fresh set of linens in the closet and had already remade the bed. The two worked efficiently and silently, an excellent team. They were about to go put their toiletries in the bathroom when they ran into Cal and Sarah,

"We come bearing gifts!" Sarah said, handing them each a bottle. Felix beamed at the bottle of whiskey in his hands,

"Jesus bloody Christ, who brought this?" He asked. Sarah motioned to Cal. Felix fought back the urge to kiss the boy. He looked over to Alison who looked to be fighting back tears, cradling the bottle of vodka in her arms like it was a child. The girl mouthed a silent '_Thank you.'_ Sarah grinned even more, obviously excited about the amount of debauchery that would be taking place over the next week. Felix cocked his head at his sister,

"Have you already started drinking?" He asked. Sarah shook her head and laughed. Cal and Sarah went back downstairs to put the extra alcohol in the kitchen.

It was another hour until everybody left their rooms for lunch. They made sandwiches and discussed what they would do for the rest of the day while Cal worked on setting up the TV. They decided that it would be most fun to swim in the lake, and to save drinking for the following days. An hour later, everybody was in their swimsuits and they trekked down to the lake.

They tooled around for a while, splashing each other and holding races until Cosima suggested that they play chicken. Since there were three teams, they would have to play in tournament style,

"Cal and Sarah have the best advantage since Cal is ten feet tall and built like an ox, so they'll play the winner." Felix decided. Everybody else agreed, Cal blushed. Delphine climbed onto Cosima's shoulders.

"Are you sure you don't want to be on top?" Delphine asked, swatting Cosima for laughing at the accidental innuendo, "Because I'm taller, you pervert. I don't want us falling over just because you can't see over the water." She elaborated. The American shook her head,

"Nah, I'm Cosima "Powerful Thighs" Niehaus, remember? I won't fall over." Cosima reminded Delphine, who just laughed and steadied herself.

"Oi! Stop chatting, I'm trying not to swallow any water." Felix barked, Alison was swaying on his shoulders. The two teams squared off, Sarah counted down from three and shouted for them to start. Delphine laughed as Cosima inched closer to Felix and Alison. The blonde reached forward and started shoving Alison, who was shoving back. It was an equal match until Cosima let go of one of Delphine's ankles, using one arm to steady both of the blonde's legs, and used her free arm to shove Felix squarely in his right shoulder. The boy stumbled and the two went toppling backwards, falling into the water. The two girls shouted in triumph. Delphine hopped off of her girlfriend's shoulders, giving her a break. After another minute of celebration, Delphine climbed back on top of Cosima, this time facing Sarah, who, due to Cal's height, was a couple of inches higher than her. Cosima, who was almost certain of how this was about to go, widened her stance a little to help her remain balanced. Once both teams were ready, Felix counted them off and announced that they could begin. Cosima stayed still, just trying to not be immediately knocked over. Cal took a step forward, getting Sarah close enough to the two girls to actually do something. Delphine felt optimistic about the match, she really did, until she looked at Sarah, who was now a whirlwind of arms, her face showed no mercy; no compassion as she advanced. For a moment, Delphine thought that a puma had traded places with Sarah. She fell back more from fear than from being pushed. Delphine fell right off of Cosima's shoulders, it almost looked like she had jumped off in an attempt to escape. When Delphine resurfaced, everybody was laughing and Sarah seemed to have returned to human form. They swam for a little bit longer before toweling off and going back inside.

They had a quiet night, making pasta and building a fire in the fireplace. They gathered in the living room after eating and cleaning up after dinner and started a movie that Cosima had picked out. It was a horror movie called _The Strangers_. Cosima had seen it once a few years ago, but didn't exactly remember the plot. Thirty minutes into the movie, which was vividly terrifying, Cosima was beginning to regret the decision. Not because she was scared, no, she rarely got freaked out when watching scary movies, but because Delphine was currently burying her face into her side, mumbling quickly in French,

"Je ne veux pas être ici! Ce ne est pas vrai, ce est juste un film!" Cosima couldn't quite make out exactly what she was saying, but she got the gist. She just wrapped an arm around Delphine's shoulder, trying to comfort her while still watching the movie.

Cal and Sarah were sharing a couch, both equally freaked out by the movie. Every time something scary would happen, they'd grab each other's hand and squeeze for dear life. On the other couch, Felix and Alison were watching casually. They made jokes about the holes in the plot and quietly made fun of the characters. They both figured that relentlessly mocking the film would make it less terrifying to go to sleep.

The movie ended and for a few minutes no one was brave enough to get up and turn on the light. They sat there in silence, nobody speaking, until Cal shrugged and got up, flicking the light on. They talked for a while, Sarah was in the kitchen getting a drink, Cal was putting the DVD back in its case and Cosima was working the stiffness out of her limbs, the others remained sitting. Felix was about to ask what they planned on doing the next day when he was interrupted by a series of loud bangs coming from upstairs, like something was being moved. Delphine screamed and lunged forward, practically football tackling Cosima out of fear. Felix dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms. Before anyone had time to process what had happened, Sarah had opened the kitchen window and crawled out of it, running as fast as she could away from the house.

After a couple of seconds another noise came, this time it was quieter. Alison, who was sitting perfectly still-seemingly trying to blend into the couch, spoke first,

"What is that? What are we going to do?" She hissed.

"It sounded like it came from the attic." Cal said. His explanation was punctuated by another clatter, causing everyone to flinch.

"We have to go see what it is." Cosima said from the ground, where Delphine still had her in a vice-like grip. The blonde shook her head vigorously, her fear only gave her access to her native tongue,

"Non! Si nous restons encore, il ne saura pas que nous sommes ici." This time Cosima understood. She rolled her eyes,

"Nobody's here, Delphine. It's probably just the wind." Another bang erupted from upstairs and Cosima had trouble believing her own words. Cal grabbed the fireplace poker and Cosima extracted herself away from Delphine and grabbed a flashlight from the coffee table.

"Felix, go get Sarah and bring her back here." Cal instructed, the boy nodded anxiously. Cal and Cosima walked to the base of the stairs. They looked to each other and Cosima turned on the light before they began climbing them. They walked to the end of the upstairs hall, looking up at the attic door. At this close, they could hear several small thuds and, much to their terror, scratching. Cal shuddered and reached up, grabbed the cord, and slowly pulled down the attic stairs.

Downstairs, Delphine seemed to have collected herself a bit and was putting on her shoes to go and retrieve Sarah. Alison was still on the couch, trying to call Sarah on her cellphone, only to be rewarded with the sound of Sarah's phone ringing underneath a blanket on the other couch. Felix was sticking his head out of the kitchen window, shouting for Sarah to return,

"Sarah! You silly bitch, get your arse back here!" He was about to curse even louder when he heard her reply,

"What was making that noise?" She shouted from the distance. Felix looked around a bit and gathered that his sister was hiding behind the car.

"We don't know, Cosima and Cal are checking it out now, just come back inside!" He yelled back.

"Not until you tell me what was up there!" Sarah declared. Felix huffed.

Back upstairs, Cal and Cosima were silently arguing over who would climb the stairs first. They counted off to three and they each threw down a hand, Cal's scissor beating Cosima's paper. The girl grimaced and turned on the flashlight, climbing up the steps with Cal right behind her. She was at the top of the stairs when another round of scratches erupted from the far corner of the attic. Cosima flinched and shined the flashlight in the noise's direction. There, in the corner, was a raccoon, apparently looking for a way out. The girl laughed and looked down the stairs at Cal,

"It's a raccoon, Cal, not a masked murderer." She reached for the fireplace poker that he was holding. He handed it to her and Cosima climbed into the attic. She looked around and saw where the raccoon had entered the attic. There was a window that was slightly open, the creature had probably accidentally forced it shut on its way in. Cosima crossed the attic and opened the window completely before she approached the raccoon. It seemed pretty docile, but the girl wasn't about to risk a bite, so she used the poker to herd the critter towards its escape. It scurried across the room and leapt out the window, into the bough of a nearby tree. Cosima closed the window and locked it, sighing in relief,

"See? No big deal." Cal laughed, immensely relieved.

"Let's go downstairs and tell the others." Cosima nodded.

Once downstairs, the two found Felix, Alison and Delphine sitting nervously on the couch, and Sarah was still nowhere to be found.

"What was it?" Alison asked, glad to see that her friends hadn't been massacred.

"It was a raccoon. The little dude must've crawled in through the window and gotten stuck." Cosima explained. The three of them rolled their eyes, feeling silly for being so scared of something as benign as a raccoon.

"Where's Sarah?" Cal asked, looking around. "Didn't you guys find her?"

"We found her, she's hiding behind the car. She refuses to come back inside until we tell her what was upstairs." Felix explained. Cal laughed and went outside.

He approached the car and walked to the back ender where he found Sarah, practically hiding underneath the vehicle. She heard him approach and looked to him,

"Who was that? Did you kill them?" She asked, still on edge.

"It was a raccoon that got stuck in the attic, you dork." Cal chuckled. Sarah threw a pebble at him,

"Well it sounded like a bloody axe murderer!" She shouted. Cal offered her a hand helped her up off the ground. Sarah looked at the boy, jokingly sheepish,

"I'm too scared. I think you'll have to carry me." She said. Cal huffed, just glad that Sarah wasn't already three miles down the road, and picked his girlfriend up at the shoulders and the knees. He carried her bridal style up the driveway and into the house. The others looked at them,

"Sarah, are you okay?" Delphine asked.

"She's fine, she's just a diva." Cal chuckled as he set her down on the couch, she smiled impishly and grabbed his hand, pulling him down next to her. He rested his head in her lap, exhaling deeply. He looked around the room and saw that the others were all sitting down, finally calming down. Cosima had taken off her glasses and was rubbing her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. Delphine was toying with the hem of her sleep shirt. Felix and Alison were both staring into the distance, trying to keep their eyes open. Exhausted from the day's events, Cal felt his eyes drooping shut, too. He wasn't sure of how long he'd drifted off when Sarah roused him and sat him up. The others had gone to bed, he didn't know how long ago, and the room was empty save the two teens. He looked to Sarah, who giggled at the boy's drowsy face. Despite the facial hair and the other signs of aging, he still looked like the boy she'd met in third grade. Sarah ran her thumb along his scruff before she stood up and took his hand. He rose slowly, sleep still caught in his long legs. She slowly led him into their bedroom, where she took him out of his day clothes before she changed into her own sleep clothes. Sarah turned around to see Cal already back asleep, on top of the bedspread. She laughed quietly and crawled onto the bed, maneuvering the blanket out from under her boyfriend and sliding it over the two of them. She laid her head on Cal's bare chest, the boy hummed a little and wrapped his arm around her. She nuzzled closer into him and followed the boy into sleep.

**French translations: Je ne veux pas être ici! Ce ne est pas vrai, ce est juste un film = I do not want to be here! This is not true, it's just a movie - Non! Si nous restons encore, il ne saura pas que nous sommes ici = No! If we stay still, it will not know we're here. **


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey guys, sorry about the time between updates. The next one will come very very quickly. Feel free to check out this story's companion piece, Matching, which I am always up to suggestions for. Enjoy!**

Cal woke up the next morning to find the rest of the bed empty. He stretched his limbs and took in the room around him. The sun was up, but not very high in the sky. It was probably 8:30 or so. He could hear people laughing in the kitchen, the movement of cookware. He sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed, standing up. He brushed his teeth and threw on a pair of flannel pajama pants before he walked out of the bedroom.

He found his friends gathered in the kitchen, all still in their sleep clothes. Delphine, in a pair of athletic shorts and an old t-shirt, her hair up in a messy bun, was standing at the stove, pushing something around a pan with a spatula. Beside her was Alison, in a set of patterned pajamas, tending to another pan. Cosima was at the table, cradling a mug of green tea, trying not to fall back asleep but failing miserably. Sarah and Felix were sitting by Cosima at the table, flicking pieces toast at her every time she looked to be falling asleep. Cal smiled,

"Hey guys. What are we up to?" He asked, more to make his presence known than out of curiosity. Felix tossed another piece of toast at Cosima before answering,

"Alison and Delphine are making breakfast, and Cos here can't seem to stay awake." He laughed when Sarah hit Cosima square in the ear with some toast. Cosima swatted lamely at the air, still too tired to react completely. Alison, confused as to why Cosima was so exhausted, looked over from the stovetop,

"We all went to our rooms at the same time, did you stay up later after that?" She asked innocently. Delphine lurched forward a little bit at the question, at the same time Cosima let out a wry chuckle. Alison noticed Delphine's body language and released a long suffering sigh. Looking back, she honestly didn't know why she asked. Cal laughed and swooped down towards Cosima, lifting her out of her chair and over his shoulder. He spun her around while she shrieked and slapped his shoulder,

"Put me down, Cal!" She laughed, hanging on for dear life. Cal spun her around some more,

"Are you awake now?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear. He stopped spinning.

"Yes! Yes I'm awake!" Cosima breathed, "Put me down before I puke, please." Cal walked them over to the living room and plopped her over the back of a couch. Cal loved Cosima, in middle school they had bonded over being both new and American; they shared a love of physics and philosophy. They'd spent more than a few Saturday nights boring the hell out of the others during their in depth discussions of the universe and its fate. Cal was like a brother to Cosima, which was why she didn't cause him serious bodily harm when he picked her up like that. She crawled off of the couch and punched the boy on the shoulder before she sat back down at the table. Cal took a seat next to her,

"So, do we have a plan for the day?" He asked. The others shrugged, he remembered that he was the only one who'd been there before, therefore he would have to be the one to come up with ideas, "It's nice a nice day. We could go outside." He suggested. Alison nodded excitedly,

"I brought some of my soccer equipment, do you guys want to play?" She proposed. Everybody else seemed on board, and Cosima was too tired to protest, so an hour later she found herself in a clearing near the cabin, circled around a soccer ball with the others. The team captains were Alison, who was a pro at soccer, and Delphine, who just happened to be good at any sport she tried. The four others stood side by side in front of the two girls. Delphine had won the coin toss so she got first pick. She looked at her friends seriously, pretending to appraise their abilities before she smiled shyly and pointed to her girlfriend,

"I pick Cosima." She said. The brunette let out a _whoop!_ and pranced over to Delphine's side. The two girls giggled while Alison selected Felix. Delphine picked Cal, which left Sarah on Alison's side. The two teams separated and formed a plan. Delphine assigned Cal to goalie, and told Cosima that she would be assisting her on offense. After a few more minutes Alison and Delphine squared off, Delphine got control of the ball and all Cosima really did was stand and watch. She was mesmerized by the blonde's prowess. Her long legs dribbled the ball around Sarah, who wasn't half bad at the sport, and she gracefully shot the ball past the goalposts Felix was trying so desperately to defend. The ball came to Cosima a few times and she always passed it to Delphine as quickly as she could. Alison had more experience, though, and wound up beating them by one point.

After the game had ended, Cosima watched Delphine and Alison play one-on-one for a little while until Cal waved everyone over. The two girls ran over towards the others and Delphine stood next to Cosima. The blonde's cheeks were flushed and the hair that had come out of her ponytail was sticking to her forehead with sweat. She smiled brightly at Cosima before she looked to Cal.

"So, I know it's a little early in the day," Cal began, "but do you guys want to drink tonight?" He asked. Everybody's eyes widened, they'd forgotten they had alcohol. Cal took his friends' faces and decided that they meant _yes_. The boy thought for a moment, "Well, it's only noon, so how about we just hang out for the rest of the day, and set up after dinner?" The others nodded and went back to messing around in the clearing.

The next few hours didn't really have a purpose. The kids were just trying to run out the clock until they could start drinking. Delphine had brought some of her lacrosse stuff and she spent about an hour practicing her pitches while Cosima retrieved the balls. Afterwards, the two went on a walk around the area. They found themselves in the sand in front of the lake. Cosima played with the sand between them, her eyebrows were knitted together. Delphine noticed,

"What's wrong?" She asked. Cosima looked up, she shook her head a little,

"Nothing. It's just, I'm graduating in like, two months, and we haven't talked about it." She said. It had been on her mind for a long time, and it was hard to sit next to Delphine and not think about the fact that they would be living in different countries soon. Delphine thought for a little bit,

"You are still going to Berkeley, right?" Cosima nodded, smiling a little. Delphine smiled too. She remembered the day Cosima found out she'd been accepted. It was lunchtime and they were sitting in Delphine's car. Cosima's phone buzzed, she had received an email from the university, congratulating her on being admitted. The brunette had cried, completely and unimaginably overjoyed. They had kissed in the parking lot for a while until they decided to just skip the rest of the day. Cosima's hand covering her own pulled Delphine out of the memory,

"And you still want to go to school in France?" Cosima asked. She didn't like the idea of being even further away from the blonde, but France had the best opportunities for her, and it was obvious that she missed her homeland, just as Cosima often found herself missing her own,

"Oui. I think my parents are even considering moving back after I graduate." Delphine answered. Cosima thought about their situation,

"Well, you still have another year, and I'll be back over Spring Break and summer to see my parents and you and the others. It'll be more complicated once you move, but I don't care. We can Skype and text all the time." She said, wrapping an arm around Delphine. Delphine was relieved by Cosima's words. She wanted them to be together, regardless of distance. The blonde placed a kiss on Cosima's jaw and the two stayed on the beach, cuddling and exchanging _I love you_'s for a while longer.

As it grew closer to dinner, the six began to shuffle around the house awkwardly. They all showered and cleaned up a bit, unsure of what else to do. Delphine and Felix, unable to wait any longer, both pushed for an early dinner, and the group ate at least forty-five minutes before they normally would. Afterwards, the friends flew around the house, preparing for the night. Delphine and Sarah pushed the table into the living room to make room for beer pong. Cal arranged all the booze onto the kitchen counter while the other three tried to make themselves useful in other ways.

They finally had beer pong set up and they'd split into two teams, Delphine, Felix and Cal, and Sarah, Alison and Cosima. For the most part the game was playfully competitive, but the most beef was between Cal and Cosima. Months ago, Cosima had completely decimated Cal in a game of beer pong and had yet to let him live it down. It seemed to be the same way this time around, too. Cal was good, but Cosima was in her element. She was making the majority of her shots, and it was a good thing that Cal was so tall because otherwise he'd be knee-walking drunk before the game was even over. In terms of skill and strategy, Cosima was the obvious winner, but in terms of getting their opponent obliterated, Sarah took the crown. She had played against Delphine, whose height gave her also gave her an advantage, but she didn't weigh as much as Cal did and she was unsteady on her feet by the time the game drew to a close.

Afterwards, when everybody was at least a little bit tipsy, Cal and Cosima began setting up shots. They poured various types of booze into the small plastic glasses while the others cheered them on. The teens were drinking with abandon, they were no longer playing games, just slurring conversations and declarations of love over the electronic music that was blasting over the speakers in the living room. The last thing Delphine remembered of the night was an image of Cosima chugging tequila straight from the bottle, her laughter causing some of it to drip down the front of her shirt.


	16. Chapter 15

**Hey guys. I meant to update sooner but the finale kinda knocked the wind out of me. Be sure to check out this story's companion piece, "Matching", which I will update soon. Feel free to message me with suggestions/reviews. I have a couple of new stories in the works so stay tuned. Enjoy!**

"Uhn…" Delphine grunted, squinting at the light. Her skull was pounding. She moved a little and was shocked by the cold surface she was touching. Shifting a little more, she found that she was in a bathtub, a rather big one at that. She didn't recognize the bathroom she was in but she didn't have time to analyze it before she felt her stomach churn. With a strangled "Merde," she pulled her upper body out of the tub and had just lifted the toilet seat when she expelled seemingly everything she'd eaten in the past week into the bowl. The force of vomiting only made the throbbing in her head worse. She stayed like that, half of her body in the bathtub, the other half draped over the toilet, for a few more minutes before she flushed and climbed completely out of the tub. She stood on shaky legs and inspected herself in the mirror. Her face was pale and her hair was a disaster, but the most notable aspect of her appearance was her shirt. It wasn't hers. The muscle shirt was short on her and exposed the skin below her bellybutton. It wasn't her shirt, but she recognized it. It was the shirt Felix had been wearing the night before. It reeked of whiskey. Delphine remembered a bit of the previous night.

_Giggling. Lots of giggling. Felix saying that it would be funny if they swapped shirts, her agreeing wholeheartedly._

Delphine could only assume that Felix was currently wearing her shirt, but she didn't know where he was. She continued her self-appraisal, she lifted her shirt and scoffed when she found a long trail of purple and red love bites, starting behind her left ear and ending just below her left ribs. She had no doubt where, or rather _who_, they had come from, but she couldn't remember when or why, exactly. She put her shirt down and ran her hands through her hair. Something caught her attention. The blonde pulled her left hand out of her hair and found, sitting on her third finger, a very familiar ring.

Cosima's eyes shot open, her mind moving quickly despite the cement that seemed to have filled her body. Her body ached, that she was certain. All of her joints hurt, her ribs hurt, her head hurt. _Definitely dehydration_, she thought. She moved her eyes, trying to take in her surroundings. Wood. She was surrounded by wood. She sat up a little bit and saw that she was on the stairs. _How the fuck did I wind up in the middle of the stairs?_ She asked herself. She checked her watch and saw that it was already noon. She stood up and hobbled downstairs. The living room was a wreck. There were empty cans, bottles and cups all across the floor. She gasped when she saw a pile of broken bottles in front of the fireplace. A memory from the previous night flashed in front of her eyes.

_Sarah and Delphine were standing on the stairs, and Delphine had a white knuckle grip on the shaft of her lacrosse stick while Sarah loaded the net with empty beer bottles and cans. The Brit would giggle a 'Go!' and Delphine would laugh and cannon the empty across the living room, sending it shattering against the brick of the fireplace._

"Jesus fucking Christ." Cosima muttered, hoping that no one got hurt in the process. She took a wide step around the broken glass and walked to the kitchen to get a broom. She stopped short when she saw a figure asleep on top of the fridge, their back to her.

Cal woke when he heard a small gasp from across the room. He opened his eyes and was face to face with wall, he stared at it confusedly, letting out a quiet "What?" He tried to get up, but stopped when a voice behind him spoke up,

"Don't move, Cal. Do. Not. Move." Cosima said seriously. Cal remained frozen,

"Cosima? What's going on?" He asked, his voice was raspy.

"I don't know how you got there, but you're on top of the fridge right now." Cosima explained, "I don't want you to fall, so just stay still until you get oriented." She instructed, sliding a chair below the fridge. The boy nodded. He drew his legs in and maneuvered himself down off of the appliance. He hopped off of the chair and laughed,

"I must've gotten a running start or something. I don't remember getting up there." Cal said before he turned around to face Cosima. The girl gasped when she saw Cal. His hair was gone. It had been shaved into a neat buzz cut. "What? What's wrong?" Cal asked. He saw that his friend was gaping at his hair, he slowly reached his hand up to his scalp and felt the top of his head. He almost fainted when he felt the short hair. He remembered the night before.

_He was sitting on the counter with Alison, talking about how happy he was to be spending Spring Break with his friends. He said that he couldn't believe how lucky he was that his dad let them stay at his cabin. He had gone on a really long rant about how much he loved his dad, despite the fact that he was in the military, and that he had made him move around so much as a kid. The tangent ended with him in tears, blubbering about how he wanted to look just like his dad. Alison suggested a haircut and he wholeheartedly agreed. He'd ran to the bathroom and retrieved a pair of electric clippers his dad had left in the cabinet. He let Alison cut his hair into a neat, military approved, buzz cut. _

Cal explained this to a stunned Cosima. The two had migrated to the living room and were sweeping up the glass from around the fireplace, "You know, it's weird. I swear I can remember seeing Delphine passed out in the bathtub." Cal admitted with a chuckle. Cosima set the trashcan down and walked as quickly as her hung over body would permit towards Cal's bedroom. She walked through the bedroom and slowly opened the bathroom door.

She found Delphine standing in front of the mirror, wearing Felix's shirt for some reason, staring at her left hand. The blonde looked to Cosima, but Cosima was still looking at the girl's left hand. She looked down at her own hands, and found that the mood ring she normally wore on her right index finger was currently resting on her girlfriend's left ring finger. A memory erupted to the front of her mind.

_She and Delphine were sitting on the stairs, the blonde was still holding her lacrosse stick, but Sarah had run off to do something else. They were talking about their futures, and how they were soon to be separated when Cosima stopped Delphine's frantic line of thought with a kiss. She pulled away and began to slip the ring off of her index finger,_

_"Let's elope." She slurred. Delphine looked at her confusedly,_

_"Quoi?" She asked. Cosima began peppering her face with kisses as she slipped the ring onto her girlfriend's ring finger,_

_"Let's elope. If we do, the distance won't matter because we'll be married." Cosima drunkenly explained, moving another one of her rings from her other pointer finger and placing it to her own ring finger, "Delphine, will you marry me?" She asked. Delphine, too drunk to really think about the situation, nodded tearfully and pulled the brunette into another kiss. Cosima pulled away from the blonde's mouth and attached herself to the skin underneath her left ear. They stayed like that, Cosima moving her mouth down Delphine's body, for a while until Felix pulled Delphine away from her and into the bedroom. The last thing she could remember after that was Sarah coming back with more booze, which she gladly accepted. _

Cosima grinned sheepishly at her girlfriend, who looked unbelievably hung over. Actually, she was probably still a little bit drunk from the night before. Delphine was swaying a little on her feet so Cosima took her gently by the arm and guided her out of the bathroom and onto the bed. The younger girl laid down, exposing a bit of her neck in the process. Cosima cringed when she saw the long trail of hickeys she had left on the blonde,

"Sorry about that. I must've been having a really good time." She apologized. The words were lost on Delphine, who was already falling back asleep. She leaned in to press a kiss on the girl's temple when Delphine mumbled something,

"I still want to elope." She confessed sleepily. All Cosima could do was smile,

"We'll do that after you sleep this off and you, you know, turn eighteen." She whispered to the sleeping girl. She couldn't take her mind off the prospect of the two of them actually being married, but she got up anyway and returned to the living room, where Cal was still cleaning up.

Once she knew where Delphine was, Cosima finally turned her attention back to the excruciating pain that radiated through her entire body. She limped into the kitchen and drank directly from the sink faucet until her stomach began to ache. She straightened up and noticed that the dull ache in her joints had subsided considerably. The brunette reached into the cabinet, pulled out several drinking glasses and began to fill them. She gathered them in her hands and walked into the living room. She handed one to Cal, who was sitting on the couched dazedly, he began to drink as soon as the cup was in his grasp. She then travelled into the master bedroom, where Delphine was still sprawled onto the bed, and placed a glass on the nightstand, knowing that the blonde would want it when she woke up.

Cosima didn't know where the other three were, but she assumed that they were upstairs somewhere. And so she began the painful journey up the flight of stairs, wincing each time her weight shifted to another leg. She finally made it to the top, she could feel her pulse through her entire body. She stood for a moment, a hand braced on her knee until the throb subsided. The door to her and Delphine's room was open, giving her a view of its vacancy. She moved on to Felix and Alison's room, where the door was closed. She quietly opened the door and had to bite back a laugh at what she saw.

Sarah and Alison laying in the bed, not quite spooning, but not quite _not _spooning. Sarah's hair was covering most of Alison's face. Cosima would have snapped a picture if she had any idea where her phone could be. She made a note to find that as soon as possible. Cosima walked to the edge of the bed, not sure which girl she wanted to wake up first because the likelihood of being attacked was about equal for both. She opted for Alison and tiptoed to the right side of the bed. She stooped and gently nudged her friend on the shoulder,

"Ali. Ali, wake up." Cosima whispered, pushing a little harder. She didn't know how her sluggish body was able to move so quickly, but she was thankful it did when her friend sent a powerful jab in her direction, letting out a shriek in the process. Cosima caught her balance and put her hands up in surrender, "Holy smokes, you're sleep-punching, now?" She asked, incredulous. Alison just squinted a little, her eyes adjusting to the light,

"What's going on?" She groaned, rubbing her temple. Cosima handed her the cup of water she'd miraculously managed not to spill,

"Well, we all got, like, six kinds of fucked up last night. I'm talking, 'black out in the middle of the stairs, propose to your girlfriend, give your friend a haircut, wake up on top of the refrigerator," fucked up." Cosima explained. Alison's eyes widened, "Yeah, you kinda sorta sheared all of Cal's hair off in the heat of a heartfelt speech. It's not half bad, considering you were rocked off your ass." Cosima laughed. Alison looked like she was about to pass out,

"Oh my God. I don't remember any of that. Is he mad?" She asked. Cosima shrugged,

"Nah. He seems pretty Zen about the whole thing, actually. But that's just Cal. He's never worried about that kind of stuff." She comforted her friend. "You know what's funny?" Cosima asked. Alison shook her head, "Delphine and Felix totally switched shirts last night. I found her in the bathroom downstairs wearing his tiny muscle shirt. Hella cute. I can't wait to see him in her shirt." She smiled. Alison looked at her, confusedly,

"Wait, you haven't seen Felix yet?" She asked.

"No, I just assumed he was upstairs with you guys" Cosima said. Her eyes widened in realization, "Holy shit, where's Felix?" She whispered. Both girls looked over to Sarah, who was still asleep. Alison grabbed Cosima's wrist,

"Do _not_ tell Sarah. Not until we find him." She whispered harshly. Cosima nodded frantically, hoping they could locate the boy before Sarah woke up and ripped their heads off.


End file.
